What Knowledge do Teachers use in Lesson Study? A focus on Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching and Levels of Teacher Activity

This chapter combines the frameworks of Ball, Thames, and Phelps (J Teach Educ 59:389–407, 2008) and Margolinas, Coulange, and Bessot (Educ Stud Math 59:205–234, 2005) to demonstrate the elements of subject and pedagogical content knowledge utilized at varying levels of teacher activity in a cycle of lesson study. Qualitative data generated in a mathematics-based lesson study, conducted with eight primary school teachers in Switzerland, is analyzed and visualizations of the knowledge occurring at each phase of lesson study are provided. This fine-grained analysis of the mathematical knowledge incorporated by teachers in lesson study demonstrates that all forms of Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, at each level of teacher activity, can occur across a cycle. In addition, the paper provides evidence that phases of lesson study do not necessarily occur in succession but can rather take place in a confluence of teachers’ work across a full cycle.