Mathematics teachers’ reflective practices within the Lesson Study context

Abstract

The ability of teachers to reflect upon teaching and learning processes has become the key factor for professional development (PD) in recent times. In my qualitative case study research, situated within the interpretivist paradigm, I explored Mathematics. Teachers’ Reflective Practices within the Lesson Study (LS) setting. Six teachers who constituted an LS team were purposively and conveniently selected based on their experience using LS in their school and being willing and accessible to participate in my study, respectively. My study was guided by two theoretical lenses: Social Constructivist Theory (SCT) and Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle. Data were collected through lesson observation, document analysis and semi-structured interviews to answer the primary research question: How do mathematics teachers acquire learning through post-lesson reflection in LS? The following main findings were revealed: (a) teachers follow a structural format of doing reflections; (b) teachers reflect on pedagogical and content knowledge as part of their learning experiences; (c) teachers conduct post lesson reflection based on the observation tool to gauge the achievement of the lesson objectives; (d) teachers benefit in doing post-lesson reflection regarding how learners respond to different teaching methods which leads to their understanding of the mathematics concepts and lesson improvement; and (e) although teachers demonstrated a fair understanding of conducting reflection, there were hindrances regarding the quality of their reflections which lacked mathematical rigour. I propose a modified LS model with an easy-to-follow reflective cycle to enhance structured and focused reflection.