Templates for Lesson Study Products
Culminating Products of Lesson Study
Imagine that there was a set of well designed lessons for the core concepts and topics in a course you
teach. And, what if each lesson came with information about how to teach the lesson, how students
typically perform, and suggestions for improving the lesson.
Rather than create lessons from scratch, instructors could adapt existing lessons to their own
circumstances and refine them further for use by others. Lesson study is a way to build this kind of
lesson-specific pedagogical knowledge base. The culminating products of lesson study are important
contributions to developing such a knowledge base.
Specifically, lesson study culminates in three scholarly products:
1. Research Lesson Plan. The plan is a detailed account of the lesson with information (including
handouts and supplementary materials) instructors need to teach the lesson. The plan includes
annotations to help other instructors understand how to teach the lesson, what to expect from
students during the lesson and suggestions about how to respond to students during the lesson.
2. Observation Guidelines. The guidelines indicate how to observe the lesson, including who to
watch and what kinds of evidence to collect throughout the lesson.
3. Research Lesson Report. The report summarizes student performance and evaluates the lesson in
light of the evidence of student learning. The report explains how students learned the topic, what
kinds of difficulties they experienced and offers any broader insights into how students learn the
subject. Reports may also suggest further modifications of the lesson.
These pieces provide important knowledge about: 1) teaching the research lesson, 2) studying the lesson,
and 3) understanding how the lesson fosters student learning. We intend to publish these on the project
website, and we encourage groups to explore other outlets for publication in your fields.
This packet contains a template for each of the three culminating products. The templates are closely
aligned with the Project Log entries your group completes during the year. In essence, the log entries are
the raw material for each of the culminating pieces.
The culminating pieces should be submitted after the second iteration of your lesson study. Send these by
email to Bill Cerbin, cerbin.will@uwlax.edu and Bryan Kopp, kopp.brya@uwlax.edu.
Research Lesson Plan Template
Use this template for your final Research Lesson Plan.
Email the Plan to Bryan Kopp at kopp.brya@uwlax.edu and Bill Cerbin, cerbin.will@uwlax.edu.
Lesson Study Team Members:
Department and Institution:
Lesson Topic:
Course:
Course Level:
Class Size:
Length of Lesson:
Classroom Setting (e.g., networked classroom, lecture hall, special equipment, etc.)
Supplementary Materials: (Attach handouts, slides and other instructional materials used to teach the lesson when you submit
the lesson plan.)
Lesson Learning Goal(s):
Describe and annotate steps of the lesson.
For each step
 Indicate the approximate time needed.
 Describe instructional and learning activities.
 Annotate the step by explaining how to teach the lesson, what to expect from students, how to respond to students’
questions or confusion
 Refer to any supplementary material used.
Observation Guidelines Template
Use this template for your Observation Guidelines
Email the Guidelines to Bryan Kopp at kopp.brya@uwlax.edu and Bill Cerbin, cerbin.will@uwlax.edu.
Lesson Study Team Members:
Department and Institution:
Lesson Topic:
Course:
Course Level:
Class Size:
Length of Lesson:
Classroom Setting (e.g., networked classroom, lecture hall, special equipment, etc.)
Lesson Goals(s):
Brief Lesson Outline for Observers.
Describe who to observe (e.g., the entire class, small groups of students, individual students)
Describe what aspects of teacher and student activity to observe (e.g., student-student interactions, types of questions students
ask in class, student responses to instructor questions, etc.)
Give directions on how to observe the lesson. Include any
 rubrics or checklists will use
 focal questions observers will answer
 guidelines for note taking and recording responses
Research Lesson Report Template
Use this template for your final Research Lesson Report.
Email the Report to Bryan Kopp at kopp.brya@uwlax.edu and Bill Cerbin, cerbin.will@uwlax.edu.
Lesson Study Team Members:
Department and Institution:
Lesson Topic:
Course:
Course Level:
Class Size:
Length of Lesson:
Classroom Setting (e.g., networked classroom, lecture hall, special equipment, etc.)
BACKGROUND
 Briefly describe the nature of the course, its objectives, and its place in the curriculum.
 Explain how and where the research lesson fits into the course including previous lessons.
 Describe general characteristics of the student population.
LESSON DESIGN
 Identify the student learning goal(s) of the final research lesson.
 Outline the major steps of the lesson. (Note that your complete lesson plan will be accessible to readers.)
 Explain how the lesson is designed to foster achievement of the learning goal(s).
 Refer to any theoretical or empirical work that influenced your lesson design.
FINDINGS
 Describe the types of evidence of student learning you collected before, during and after the lesson.
 Describe student learning during the lesson based on classroom observations. (Note that your Observation Guidelines will
be accessible to readers.)
 Identify major patterns and tendencies in student performance.
CONCLUSIONS
 Explain, based on the evidence, how students learned the lesson topic.
 Describe the ways in which students progressed toward the lesson’s goal(s).
 Discuss any broader implications about student learning.
RECOMMENDATIONS (Optional)
 Discuss how the lesson might be further revised.
 Identify ways to study the lesson more effectively.
January, 2005