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Lesson Study Research and Practice in Mathematics Education pp 181–199Cite as

The Critical Role of Task Development in Lesson Study

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Abstract

While many aspects of Lesson Study are characteristic of effective pedagogy, the task or problem is perhaps the least understood by non-Japanese adopters of Lesson Study. In this chapter we focus on the pivotal rôle played by the task in the Research Lessons of Lesson Study practice in Japanese primary school mathematics. The metaphor adopted is that tasks are akin to icebergs, where most of the support is hidden, and is used in order to raise awareness of the bases of effective tasks. Examples of such tasks are described as they were presented in classrooms in both Australia and Japan.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In this description, quotes are from the video recording of the lesson. All children’s names are pseudonyms.

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Acknowledgements

Mathematics classrooms functioning as communities of inquiry: Models of primary practice was funded by the Australian Research Council. The Chief Investigators were Susie Groves (Deakin University), Brian Doig and Laurance Splitter (The Australian Council for Educational Research).

Talking across cultures was funded by the Deakin University Quality Learning Research Priority Area. The project team was Susie Groves, Brian Doig (Deakin University), Toshiakira Fujii (Tokyo Gakugei University), Yoshinori Shimizu (Tsukuba University), and Julianna Szendrei (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia

    Brian Doig & Susie Groves

  2. Tokyo Gakugei University, Tokyo, Japan

    Toshiakira Fujii

Authors
  1. Brian Doig
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  2. Susie Groves
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  3. Toshiakira Fujii
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brian Doig .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Early Childhood Education, Georgia State University, Atlanta, 30303, Georgia, USA

    Lynn C. Hart

  2. , Robert B. Davis Institute for Learning, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, 08901-1183, New Jersey, USA

    Alice S. Alston

  3. , School of Education, Stanford University, 520 Galvez Mall, Stanford, 94305, California, USA

    Aki Murata

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Doig, B., Groves, S., Fujii, T. (2011). The Critical Role of Task Development in Lesson Study. In: Hart, L., Alston, A., Murata, A. (eds) Lesson Study Research and Practice in Mathematics Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9941-9_15

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