Lesson Study as a Professional Development Process of Mathematics Teachers

Abstract

This paper describes a lesson study carried out with five teachers of grades 5 and 6 in a school in Lisbon, analyzing especially relevant episodes. We aim to understand the potential of the lesson study as a professional development process and the challenges posed by its undertaking. The results show that the teachers, after some initial resistance regarding the kind of professional development activity proposed, highly involved themselves in solving mathematical tasks and in exploring issues such as the nature of tasks and the students' reasoning processes. The teachers indicated that they learn in professional terms, especially regarding the value whole class discussions, and they highlighted the collaborative work and the opportunity to constitute themselves as a working group in the school.

Keywords:
Lesson Study; Professional Development; Tasks; Reasoning; Whole Class Discussions