Introduction

This is a much-needed book for educators who want to learn more than just the surface features of lesson study, to deepen the process and learning. Bringing together current knowledge and resources from lesson study practitioners and researchers all over the world, this book provides models and examples of how teachers can learn more deeply and how to support them to learn more in lesson study. The chapters connect current research/educational theories to classroom practices and are filled with examples to illustrate how deeper learning looks with lesson study; for example, highlighting the research process, paying attention to educative talk, using of case pupils (students) as the teachers’ focus, doing kyouzai kenkyuu well, facilitating mock-up lessons and so forth. This is not a basic "how-to" handbook of lesson study, and readers can choose chapters with topics of interest to learn and use the new ideas promptly in their work. Coming from the global network of lesson study educators, the book not only provides new learning guides but also provides stories of how lesson study has been adopted in different cultures and educational contexts.