Lesson Study Template
Imagine 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.
A step in the direction of building a pedagogical knowledge base, lesson study investigates how students think and
respond to our instruction. Teachers observe the kinds of difficulties and problems students commonly experience
in the classroom. Even when lessons—or our attempts to study them—do not go as planned, they help us
understand on how teaching affects student learning and development.
The lesson study process culminates in the following:

A Lesson. Designed with specific learning goals in mind, your lesson provides an outline of teacher and
student activities, annotations on how to respond to student learning challenges, and a brief rationale.

A Study. Your study will describe your strategies for gathering evidence of student learning, share findings
from your observations and research, and draw conclusions about how students progressed toward learning
goals.
Your write-up should focus on the final (usually second) iteration of your lesson study process. Note: If your team
has been completing Project Log entries throughout the process, you have already written the raw material for your
lesson study.
Lesson studies will be published on the Lesson Study Project website for use by other teachers and researchers in
your discipline or field. We encourage teams to explore additional venues for publication and presentation of
lesson study work.
Submit your final lesson study by email to Bill Cerbin, cerbin.will@uwlax.edu and Bryan Kopp,
kopp.brya@uwlax.edu. Please note that text-only, Microsoft Word, and HTML documents are the preferred
formats for your lesson study although other file formats (e.g. Adobe PDF) work well as supplements (see “Related
Files” below).
PART I: BASIC INFORMATION
Lesson Topic: Characterize the focus of your lesson in fewer than five words.
Discipline or Field: If your lesson may be used in more than one discipline or field, list all that apply.
Authors: List the names of each person on your lesson study team.
Lesson Site: Give the name and location of the institution at which the lesson was taught.
Course Name: Please give the course title rather than its catalog number (e.g. “Freshman Composition” rather
than “English 110”).
Course Description: Briefly describe the course, its place in the curriculum, and the student population.
Include pertinent facts such as course level, class size, length of lesson, and classroom setting (e.g. networked
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classroom, lecture hall, special equipment, etc.). Discuss where the lesson fits in the course itself, including
previous lessons.
Summary: In 100 words or fewer, summarize your learning goals, instructional design, and major findings
about student learning.
PART II: THE LESSON
Learning Goals: List your student learning goals. Write these in terms of what students will know and be able
to do as a result of the lesson. Also characterize the long-term qualities the lesson will support. These are
abilities, skills, dispositions, inclinations, sensibilities, values, etc. that you would like students to develop in
your program.
Lesson Design: Outline and annotate steps of the lesson so that other teachers may use it. For each step,
indicate the approximate time needed, describe instructional and learning activities, and offer strategies for
responding to student learning challenges. Refer to any supplementary material used.
Rationale: Provide background on the lesson topic and its significance. Explain how the lesson is intended to
make student thinking visible and foster achievement of the learning goal(s). Refer to any theoretical,
empirical, or pedagogical work that influenced your lesson design.
Related Files: Related files may include handouts, readings, prompts, images/graphics, presentations, slides,
web pages, learning modules, links, video/audio clips, photographs, PDF files, etc. Send files as email
attachments to kopp.brya@uwlax.edu
PART III: THE STUDY
Introduction: Describe student learning challenges, problems, issues, etc. you investigated. Discuss any
previous research, relevant literature or teaching experience related to the lesson or your student learning goals.
Approach: Describe how you studied the lesson. Indicate what observers focused on during the lesson. Identify
how the lesson made student thinking visible. Specify other types of evidence collected (e.g. student work,
performance, interviews, etc.).
Findings: Explain how you analyzed the data, including any focal questions, rubrics, checklists, etc. Present
the results of your study, discussing key observations and identifying major patterns and tendencies in student
performance. (Data may be presented numerically or in a narrative fashion.)
Conclusions: Discuss your findings, especially with respect to your student learning goals. Discuss broader
implications for teaching and student learning. Discuss remaining questions, how the lesson might be further
revised and/or how the lesson may be studied more effectively.
References: List any theoretical, empirical or pedagogical sources that you consulted or cited in your lesson
study. Use a documentation style appropriate to your discipline or field (e.g. APA for Psychology, MLA for
English, etc.).
Related Files: Related files may include observation protocols/guidelines, evaluation rubrics, research
data/analyses, links, video/audio clips, photographs, PDF files, etc. Send files as email attachments to
kopp.brya@uwlax.edu
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