‘Lesson Study’ grants awarded to six faculty teams

Prof. Regan A. R. Gurung, in his role as UW-Green Bay “Lesson Study” coordinator, has announced that six teams have secured Lesson Study Grants for the 2009-2010 academic year. The projects are funded by the UW System’s Office of Professional and Instructional Development (OPID). Full details will be posted later at the Center For Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) website. In the meantime, here are faculty teams and topics:

• Illustrating core concepts relevant to geoscience, environmental science, and environmental policy and planning. Team members are John Luczaj (NAS, geoscience), Kevin Fermanich (NAS, geoscience), Matt Dornbush (NAS, biology), and Laurel Phoenix (PEA, geography).

• Optimizing the teaching and learning of APA style. Team members are Deirdre Radosevich and Chris Smith (Human Development), Jolanda Sallmann (Social Work), and Brian Sutton (HUS).

• On research design and statistical techniques. Team members are Jennifer Zapf, (Human Development, psychology) and Katia Levintova (Public and Environmental Affairs, political science).

• Fostering interdisciplinary thinking to strengthen workforce readiness. Team members are Doreen Higgins and Gail Trimberger (Social Work) and Susan Gallagher-Lepak (Nursing).

• Teaching about interdisciplinarity: a first-year seminar model. The grant was awarded to the First Year Seminar Committee.

• A lesson study on rational expressions. Team members are Theresa Adsit and James Meyer (both NAS, mathematics).

Lesson Study is a teaching improvement process in which a group of instructors jointly design, teach, observe, analyze, revise and document a single classroom presentation called a “research lesson.” The lesson has clear goals stated in terms of what students should know, what students should be able to do, how students should be affected or changed as a result of the lesson.