Planning lessons and in-the-moment improvising during enactment of the plan are two central activities inherent to the practice of teaching. To what extent are these pursuits conflicting or inconsistent? What are the characteristics of improvisation during teaching and what are teachers' possible stances on it? We discuss these questions based on…

This paper argues that the plan and study phases of lesson study are productive in helping educators with varied expertise and experience to explore scientific practices like modeling with ties to disciplinary literacy. Points are illustrated with data from a lesson-study cycle in science that two university-based teacher educators, one in…

Japanese Lesson Study (JLS) is a professional development method, involving teachers collaboratively planning lessons, observing their enactment, then discussing observations of teaching and learning. This paper explores translation of JLS internationally, seeking to understand how and why it is adapted and how an understanding of national culture…

The question of how to create a common framework for teaching (a science of the art of teaching) has often been a topic of discussion. As a result of Lesson Study, such a framework has emerged in Japan for science education. Outside Japan, however, creating a common framework for teaching has appeared to be far from easy. This article focuses on…

Over the years, several frameworks and lesson observation protocols have been developed to ensure objectivity and consistency when determining the quality of a mathematics lesson. Frequently, the frameworks do not agree on the benchmarks for assessing and describing the quality of a lesson. This puts mathematics education researchers in a dilemma…

Focussing on teachers' subject pedagogical actions over the course of a series of lessons on a mathematical topic, this paper sets out an original analytical approach to characterise the shape of mathematics teaching decisions made over time: tri-polar analysis. The notion of manifestation is introduced as a way of categorising how the teacher is…

Background: Nonlinear Pedagogy, underpinned by concepts in ecological dynamics, is a pedagogical framework that advocates an exploratory approach to acquisition of movement skills with an emphasis on individualised movement solutions. Its key principles have been successfully implemented in sports teaching and coaching and are currently being…

This paper introduces and summarises a programme of German research into teaching started 20 years ago. This research draws on Herbart's analysis of teaching with its focus on 'Bildung' (formation) which is distinguished from the measurement/psychometric tradition. It offers the possibilities of a deeper empirical understanding of pedagogical…

This paper describes the oral assessment activity we designed and used as a culminating activity for faculty participants in a professional academic development program. The program offers multiple certificates, and the goal of each certificate is to enhance participants' abilities to design and deliver exceptional student learning experiences. We…

This chapter proposes a theoretical model of the impact of lesson study. Outcomes addressed include teacher outcomes (e.g., knowledge and beliefs), professional learning norms and routines, instructional routines and tools, and student learning outcomes. Four theoretical perspectives are used to examine lesson study impact: knowledge integration…

Two broad categories of instructional practices, (a) explicitly attending to concepts and (b) fostering students' opportunities to struggle, have been consistently linked to improving students' mathematical learning and achievement. In this article, we describe an effort to build these practices into a framework that is useful for a diverse set of…

This paper tells a story about the design, development and impact of a post-graduate Masters-level module aimed at (1) enabling groups of teachers within schools to develop innovative approaches to teaching and learning on the basis of their own Lesson Studies and (2) creating a school network of excellence for Lesson Study in the area as a…

We report on one teachers' efforts to re-design an entire instructional unit as a coherent storyline about forces and motion as a part of a multiyear professional development (PD) project around the NGSS. Designing coherent storylines demands that teachers create opportunities for students to meaningfully engage in science practices in order to…

The term 'CLIL' has been used in Australia for over a decade, and the approach has helped to invigorate languages education in both primary and secondary schools. In particular, the flexibility of CLIL has led to a range of teachers accessing CLIL training: from teachers in structured programs where schools have committed to organisational change,…

This What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) report, part of the WWC's Teacher Excellence topic area, explores the effects of the "eMINTS Comprehensive Program," referred to as "eMINTS" in this report, on student achievement. The strong influence of teachers on student outcomes, as well as the variation in teacher effectiveness, has led…