why lesson study and the history of mathematics?
Some background information
‘Collaborative teaching practice’ refers to the practice developed in different countries (most prominently Japan, Hungary, and more recently United States and England) and sometimes also closely linked and/or referred to as ‘lesson study’. The collaborative teaching practice that has been part of the current project as a way of peer-discussion and collective teaching tool is based on the simple cycle as follows:
• plan the lesson together, discussing the potential research activities/foci of research
• do individual research and share responsibilities for producing resources
• meet or correspond and share the findings of research as well as produced resources
• teach collaboratively or film the session
• assess the filmed lessons as a team, adopting certain resources and approaches for further use and or development, and rejecting others.
All teachers had, at some point of the project, been involved in planning, teaching, and assessing a lesson as part of a group of teachers. Some of the planning and all teaching sessions were filmed and studied by the groups of teachers as part of the analysis part of the cycle (planning-teaching-analysing-refining resources-teaching, etc.), having the learning and teaching strategies as its focal point.
The project was based on the premise that the history of mathematics can improve both the motivation and attainment when used as a contextual background in the teaching of mathematics at this level. At the same time the first round of teachers involved in the project showed an interest in having an opportunity to develop their teaching and research skills in order to introduce the history of mathematics. The use of modern technologies, especially the Internet and dynamic geometry environments (such as Geometer’s Sketchpad) was encouraged.
The project showed how the history of mathematics can set the ‘scene’ and act as a catalyst in creating a professional learning environment as well as giving a structure to endorse inquiry both in the student and in the teacher. In mathematics, this dimension is or can be, added to any such particular conceptual landscape.
Our agreed aim was to adopt a creative and individualistic ethos in teaching, providing ample opportunity for bringing the history of mathematics alive to the present generation of school children. Eventually, in practical terms, the defined foci were enlarged to include, apart from the collaborative teaching practice and the individual research, the creation of a networking platform in the form of web-quests which will be available from January 2009 and to which a link will be placed here and in other places.
Here you can download the paper which sets out the philosophy of the project in more detail, as well as the poster which explains how we created a conceptual landscape for our own continuing professional development.
