Mathematical Discourse in Research Lessons from a Lesson Study with Two Prospective Teachers

Resumo

Background: Mathematical classroom discourse is fundamental to control mathematical communication. Initial teacher education should support the prospective teacher to prepare and lead discussions that favour mathematical discourse. Lesson study is a professional development process with potential benefits related to developing the prospective teacher’s knowledge of mathematics teaching. Objectives: We intend to characterise the mathematical discourse in two research lessons led by prospective teachers and understand which aspects of their participation in the process they highlight. Design: We follow a qualitative and interpretative participant-observation approach. Setting and participants: The study took place in a Portuguese higher education institution. Two prospective teachers, their supervisor and cooperating teacher, and the researcher participated voluntarily. Data collection and analysis: Data collection included participant observation, field notes, audio and video recordings, document collection, and semi-structured interviews. Data were transcribed, coded, and analysed according to predefined categories. Results: The mathematical discourse in the first research lesson was more favourable to communication than in the second. The prospective teachers’ perceptions about their participation in lesson study highlighted aspects of the teacher’s role, questioning, explaining mathematical thinking, and mathematical representations. Conclusions: We show that detailed prior preparation of the research lesson can strongly benefit the performance of the prospective teacher. However, this does not guarantee that the lesson is not strongly centred on the teacher.