Session Abstract

Turning Points in American Freedom, a 2007 Teaching American History (TAH) project funded through the US Department of Education, piloted a unique approach to professional development with K-12 history teachers from 14 contiguous districts in south central Michigan.  Cross-district cohorts of teachers from the fifth, eighth, and high school levels partnered with university history and education professors from Michigan State University to implement Lesson Study, a curriculum development model that entails the collaborative process of creating, teaching, observing, and revising of “research lessons” by a persistent teacher cohort over two years.  Borrowed from math and science education, Lesson Study is now emerging in social studies education, but until now little hard data on its effectiveness has been published.  Presented by the project’s director, lead historian, and teacher education specialist, the session will describe and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Lesson Study in history education using data from a qualitative study of the teachers engaged in the project.