American History in the Schools

Learning Study

Learning Study (LS) is a teacher development model based on the ‘plan-teach-review-reteach’ cycle used in Japanese Lesson Study with a central focus on teacher collaboration and student outcomes. The American HITS professional development program will use the Learning Study approach to support teachers interested in:

• Collaborating with colleagues to improve instruction and student learning in history and literacy
• Honing their craft and reflecting on their practice in teaching historical concepts and skills
• Investigating and evaluating the various ‘ways of knowing’ with regard to content and pedagogy
• Planning, teaching, reviewing, and re-teaching a lesson
• Assessing student learning and outcomes

During the American HITS program, teacher participants involved in the Learning Study Tier will begin their study with participation in the Summer Institute and conduct two cycles of Learning Study, each consisting of the four learning stages below. Each stage is essential to teacher learning, development, and growth.

		Stage1: Creating the Goal LS participants work as a team to develop a common goal/research question focused on content, pedagogy, and a specific student outcome. Professional readings are shared by team members and facilitators to further investigate/support teacher inquiry.

		Stage 2: Planning and Teaching the Lesson LS participants work collaboratively to plan a comprehensive lesson based on the team's initial goal/research question. Appropriate research and resources are compiled and considered by the team to the research question. Once the lesson is complete, one teacher on the team teaches the lesson to his/her students, while remaining team members observe.

		Stage 3: Debriefing the Lesson After the teaching of the lesson, team members reconvene to debrief and reflect upon the observed lesson and discuss possible variations within the context of the desired outcomes. Specific protocols are used, along with careful facilitation, to ensure objective reflection and appropriate modifications considered before re-teaching.

		Stage 4: Re-teaching the Lesson With lesson modifications in place, LS participants are now ready to re-teach the lesson and evaluate their findings. LS teams will then calibrate what worked, why it worked, and consider the impact on student learning, and how teachers may replicate this strategy in their instruction.