Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, JapanAPEC Lesson Study Projects in Mathematics,
Science and Emergency Preparedness Education
proposed from Thailand and Japan
Masami Isoda, PhD
CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan
isoda@criced.tsukuba.ac.jp

Table of Content

1. Overview and Background in relation to the Purpose of the Projects ................... 3
1-1. Background ......................................................................................................... 3
1-2. Overview of LSPs ............................................................................................... 4
1-2-1. First Stage for LSPs: "Establishment of Lesson Study activity in eacheconomy" ................................................................................................................. 4
1-3. Second Stage for Lesson Study Projects: Efforts for Specified Topics ......... 5
1-4. Third stage for Lesson Study Projects: Emergency Preparedness Education
Projects ................................................................................................................... 6
2. Involved Personnel and Organizations .................................................................... 7
2-1. Designing Procedure of LSPs............................................................................. 7
2-2. Personnel and Organizations: Why National Level Teacher Education
Institutions are involved in. ...................................................................................... 8
2-3. Expected roles of institutions .......................................................................... 10
3. Methodology, Procedure and Tools for Implementation ....................................... 10
3-1. Lesson Study as for Methodology .................................................................... 11
3-2. Implementation Process: PDCA (plan-do-check-act) cycle ............................. 12
3-3. Selecting process of Specialists for Implementations ..................................... 13
4. Success Factors ....................................................................................................... 14
4-1. The project selected the inevitable subjects: mathematics and emergency
preparedness education. .......................................................................................... 15
4.2

Lesson Study Methodology is appropriate for themes and excellence. ........ 15

4-3. Project are managed by a Raising Economy and a Matured Economy ......... 16

1
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

4-4.

The LSPs are managed by the Lesson Study Policies: ................................ 16

4-5. Every specialist from economy has ownership under lesson study policies.. 16
4-6. Every specialist well supported by the self-fund from the ministry or
institution. ............................................................................................................... 17
4-7. The products such as video and e-textbooks produced by every economy are
visible and distributed through the web. ............................................................... 17
5. Best Practices .......................................................................................................... 17
5-1. Best Practices for Networking by the self-funds in economies ...................... 18
5-1-1. Best Practices with all collaboration of Lesson Study Network ............. 19
5-1-2. Best Practices with collaboration between/among economies................. 20
5-1-3. Best Practices in economies ...................................................................... 22
5-2. Best Practices as the models for teachers' cultural activities who ensure thebetter quality of education in APEC economies ..................................................... 22
5-3. Best Practices as the model of multi-year projects in HRDWG ..................... 23
5-4. Best Practices for producing visible and user-revisable content such as Videos
and e-Textbooks for sharing in APEC economies: In relation to ICT Education and
APEC HRDWG wiki site. ........................................................................................ 23
5-6. Best Practices as for Mathematics and Emergency Preparedness Education
as for the Priority Areas on HRDWG and APEC with bridging the different APEC
Fora .......................................................................................................................... 25
6. Strengths and Weakness/ Transferability ............................................................. 26
6-1. Strengths .......................................................................................................... 26
6-1-1. Lesson study network in Mathematics Education under HRDWG
Education Network .............................................................................................. 26
6-1-2.

Producing free re-producible e-textbook on the web. ............................ 26

6-2.Weakness ........................................................................................................... 27
6-2-1. LSP Network is open for everyone however office working staffs andresearchers have to change their mindsets to work with teachers depending on
economies.............................................................................................................. 27
6-2-2. LSP Network is trying to produce the activity to integrate both top down
and bottom up approaches for educational innovation however need the years
for integration. ..................................................................................................... 27
6-2-3. Limitation of re-producing contents ......................................................... 28
Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................... 28
References .................................................................................................................... 29

2
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

1. Overview and Background in relation to the Purpose of the Projects
This report includes the eight Lesson-Study Projects (LSPs) proposed by
Thailand and Japan starting in 2006 and extending to 2014. It focuses on the subjectsof mathematics, science, and emergency preparedness. Beginning at the elementary
school level, mathematics literacy are fundamental subjects for economic
development as they represent the major language in every economy. Science is also
necessary because it is the base for engineering and technology which also use
mathematics as their language. Due to this necessity, they have been recognized as
basic skills in a knowledge based society in the 21st century. Mathematics usually
receive the largest amount of teaching time from kindergarten or elementary school
through high school as well as mother language and English as the second language.
Even though East Asia typically performs well, mathematics is known as a difficult
subject. The LSP’s begun with a focus on mathematics and included science when
they shifted to Emergency Preparedness Education. Next, the background of the LSPs
will be explained followed by an overview of the LSPs.
1-1. Background
There are two main regional and global backgrounds for LSPs.
In the APEC (2004, 2008, 2012) and UNESCO (2000) documents, universal
mathematics and science literacy have been recognized as necessary in order toestablish better quality of life and economic growth within a globalized, knowledge
based society. While the UNESCO documents highlight supporting minimum literacy
such as Numeracy, the APEC documents are more directed towards economic growth
and the welfare of APEC economies.
The documents such as the Darwin Declaration of APEC Energy Ministers(2007), the establishment of the APEC Emergency Preparedness Working Group (2010)
and the Decade of the Education for Sustainable Development by UNESCO (2005)
indicate the urgent themes for the preparation and innovation in education for risk
management regarding global warming and unavoidable natural disasters. They are
the emergency tasks which can only be solved by global and regional collaboration.
While the UNESCO document refers to world issues for establishing comprehensive
long term educational efforts for involving under achieved economies, APEC
documents are more directed towards the economic development.

3
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

1-2. Overview of LSPs
Out of these two major pushes, LSPs have been extended as follows.
1-2-1. First Stage for LSPs: "Establishment of Lesson Study activity in each economy"
As for the economic growth for every economy, mathematics has been regarded as thepriority area for innovation in education by the APEC HRDWG (Human Resource
Development Working Group) Educational Network under the Joint statements fromthe Education Ministerial Meetings in Santiago (2004), Peru (2008) and Korea (2012).
Under the demands agreed to in Santiago (2004), the 2006 project was submitted to
APEC HRDWG Education Network in 2005.
1-2-1-1. The year 2006 LSP: Pilot study
Under the demands of APEC, LSPs for Mathematics Education launched in2006 with the pilot project 'A collaborative study on innovations for teaching andlearning mathematics in different cultures among the APEC Member Economies (2005).
Firstly, the pilot project reviewed the various existing classroom studies in the APEC
economies, such as the extant action research, the TIMSS (Third International
Mathematics and Science Study) Videotape Classroom Study (Stigler, Gonzalez,
Kawanaka, Knoll, and Serrano, 1999) and Japanese meaning of lesson study. From thereports such as the US Department of Education [2000], the Japanese Lesson Study
methodology for improvement of education was recommended based on theacademic research trends from 1990's. During the discussion in the first meeting in
2006, lesson study was recognized as the best method to produce the best practice forteaching as well as being an autonomous improvement system in education controlled
by the teachers themselves. Thus, it was concluded to choose the lesson study
methodology for the methodology of the LSPs to produce innovative approaches formathematics classrooms.
1-2-1-2. The year 2007 and 2008 LSPs: Establishment of the network with visible
approach.
Based on this pilot project, five years planned projects (2007-11) were
proposed to the Education Network for Innovation of Mathematics Teaching. APEC
funded the projects for 2007 and 2008. The study topic of the 2007 LSP was to develop
an innovative method for teaching to develop children who think mathematically inthe classroom. The study topic of the 2008 LSP was to develop an innovative method
for teaching for mathematical communications. The 2007 and 2008 projects produced
several good practices for the model teaching-approaches in visible with videos byleading economies such as Japan, Thailand, and Singapore. However many economies'
still struggled to implement the lesson study because it was first experience for them
4
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japanand some economies changed delegates every year. Thus, one task taken up by the
LSPs was to establish consistency for the sustainable development of lesson study
activities in every economy. Continuity was needed for learning each other andselecting the model approach within reach was the task for every economy at thattime.
Through the first three years(2006-2008), APEC funded LSPs to establish the
APEC lesson study networks (see Chapter 2) in order to share the innovative teaching
methods for mathematics teaching as for the possible goals in each economy.
1-2-1-3. The influence of the year 2006, 2007 and 2008 projects.
One of the important features of lesson study is that it is a methodology thatallows for innovation to develop better practice in classroom by teachers. It is suitablefor each classroom and school level activity and it is not limited to the subject ofmathematics. As a result, LSPs influenced teacher education methods for othersubjects in APEC economies and established national level activities in some
economies.
For example, through the evaluation of the projects at every HRDWG meeting,
LSPs helped establish the lesson study movements in APEC economies to other priority
subjects, such as Science and English. For example, Chinese Taipei established thehighly successful Lesson Study Project for English as a Second Language under the
HRDWG Education Network (See APEC HRDWG Wiki site).
1-3. Second Stage for Lesson Study Projects: Efforts for Specified Topics
Under the changing priorities in general in relation to the emergent events for
the Lehman Crisis and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the projects in 2009 did notreceive the APEC central funds despite the fact that the 2009 project wasrecommended by HRDWG to Budget and Management Committee (BMC).
Subsequently, the projects 2010 and 2011 were funded through self-funds.
Even if the project established the lesson study networks to an early stage,
many economies are still at the start line in terms of innovations. For example, many
economies faced the difficult problem of improving teaching despite being engaged inlesson study. Despite the implementation difficulties, open ended tasks forassessments in the year 2010 project and the textbooks for problem solving teachingapproach for the year 2011 project have been proposed as model approaches ininnovation within reach and every economy trying to implements those two
approaches. Beginning in the year 2011, the LSPs began to use dbookPro for producing
e-textbooks for the classroom.
5
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, JapanDue to these efforts, the lesson study network began to produce
comprehensive materials, textbooks, and assessment tasks. The number ofparticipating economies was nineteen at this stage.
1-4. Third stage for Lesson Study Projects: Emergency Preparedness Education
Projects
Strong earthquakes struck Indonesia (2004), Chile (2010) and Japan (2011)and many more economies were affected by the corresponding Tsunami. Thailand(2011) and the Philippines (2012) had huge floods and avalanches filled with debris.
Chile (2013), Peru (2013), Mexico (2013), and Indonesia (2013) had concurrent volcanic
eruptions. Russia (2010), the USA (2013) and Australia (2013) had forest or bush fires.
Many people, including children, lost their lives or their economic base for life. Due tothese problems, emergency preparedness is recognized as APEC’s second generalpriority.
On this demand, the 2012, 2013, and 2014 LSPs were funded by APEC
Emergency Preparedness funds. The theme was to produce model textbooks forgeneral economics and mathematics through the studying of the sciences of natural
disasters. The projects produced sample e-textbooks for each economy. The 2012
project focused on earthquakes and tsunami. The 2013 project focused on floods andtyphoons. The concept note of the 2014 project is just approved at the BMC meetingon September,2013. .
The third stage of LSPs is the project for Emergency Preparedness Education.
The LSPs receive participants from both mathematics and science. Scientists
specifically in the area of earth science have been contributing to the projects. The
number of participating economies is sixteen in the 2013 project because earthquakes
and tsunami are not emergent issues in some economies. The APEC funded a travel
grant for 11 economies and 6 speakers: thus at most, 17 economies are capable ofearning an APEC grant. Other travels are supported by self-grants. Japan and Thailand
tried to increase the number of scientists to three times the number in past LSPs. Dueto the increased participation and numbers of scientists, the third stage establishedthe LSPs for Mathematics, Science and Emergency Preparedness Education Projects.
Through LSPs, the number of total participants in every planning meeting heldin Japan from APEC economies (not including those from Japan) has increased from 30
in 2006 to 130 in 2013. This indicates that the projects are well supported by the
self-funds in every economy.

6
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

2. Involved Personnel and Organizations
In 2006, Thailand’s Ministry of Education and Japan’s Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) proposed the LSPs with the support ofa number of economies. Khon Kaen University, Thailand, and the University of Tsukuba,
Japan, have been managing the project and supporting the self-funds under the
support of their governments.
2-1. Designing Procedure of LSPs
In the LSPs, project overseers established the collaboration policy for lesson
study including the difference of genders for asking teaches in both genders to work
together. They do not distinguish between the participants and speakers forengagement of LSPs, even if their invitation status are based on the APEC regulation,
because everyone is considered to be contributors for classroom innovation in eacheconomy—all of them have the same duty to develop products such as videos ande-textbooks. At the same time, they invited world-known researchers to serve asadvisors who did not always attend the meetings and did not have the obligation to
produce the products. Based on this flat organizational structure under the policy oflesson study, all specialists usually proposed the innovative ideas for the next year's
project proposals in the planning and report meeting.
The only exceptional case is the pilot project in 2006 which was proposed by
Thailand and Japan in 2005. For this project, all specialists and the world-known
researchers discussed the best approaches for the innovation of classroom teachingfor the APEC economies. The lesson study method was selected and a flatorganizational structure was established in order to propose and discuss the future
mathematics education in APEC economies with each other. The planning of the five
year projects' ideas for proposing the APEC HRDWG Education Network beginning withthe 2007 project was also discussed at the pilot project. Before the 2008 project, theproject overseers succeeded in establishing the lesson study network in mathematics.
In the case of Stage 2, the policy of selection of the project itself changed in
the middle of the five year projects. For completing the five year proposed projects,
the self-fund projects were proposed with the same policy as before.
In the case of Stage 3, both proposing economies experienced huge disasters andexpressions of sympathy for each other went around in the network. All specialists
recognized the importance of the APEC ministers' established priorities. On this status,

7
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japanthe emergency preparedness education projects were proposed to the specialists inthe lesson study network. Based on the agreement, the projects were proposed.
2-2. Personnel and Organizations: Why National Level Teacher Education Institutions
are involved in.
Lesson study is a kind of cultural practice by teachers for innovation of theirclassroom instruction. Through the lesson study methodology, LSPs establish thelesson study community itself for autonomous and sustainable developments. Lesson
study communities are usually constructed by teachers, specialists such as supervisors,
teacher trainers and researchers for supervising, and administrators such as principals
and officers of educational boards for funding and directing. One of the driving forcesof lesson study communities is the study topic which is necessary for the community.
The community usually select the sharable study topic. The role of the LSPs isproviding the study topic, based on the APEC minister's demands, to stimulate thecultural practices.
Because of this, LSPs worked with the national-level leadingteacher-education organizations under the government as well as directly with eachgovernment’s key personnel because those organizations usually work with teachersand support national level teacher training and curriculum development. It is also agood opportunity for teacher trainers and researchers who are working inside oforganizations but rarely have the chance to visit school and see how teachers actuallywork. This is partly due to teacher education belonging to the higher education
ministry in some countries and researchers and teacher trainers needing permission
from the educational ministry.
LSPs include the practical shifting of research trends established by theministers for the improvement of teaching. In the lesson study, the researchers arecontributors to the enculturation of teachers' community. He/she works for
improvement beyond solely being an observer who uses the observations for his/her
own research. From these objectives, key organizations in each economy works withclassroom teachers on the implementation of curriculum beyond just distributing it per
the regulations.
On these demands, managing institutions made an effort to establish the
APEC Lesson Study network within the first three years. Following is the key
organization of the network.
Proposed Governments:
Ministry of Education (Thailand)
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Japan).
8
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

Managing Institutions:
Khon Kaen University (Thailand) and The University of Tsukuba (Japan)
Governmental organizations:
SEP (Mexico); Dept. of Education, government of NSW (Australia); Ministry of
Education (Brunei Darussalam); Ministry of Education (Peru); SEAMEO RECSAM(Malaysia); SEAMEO QITEP (Indonesia); UP-NISMED (Philippines); Ministry of
Education (Chinese Taipei); IPST (Thailand)
Teacher education institutions:
MIOO (Russia); East China Normal University and North East China Normal University(China); Hong Kong Institute of Education (Hong Kong); Korean National University of
Education (Korea); Valparaiso Catholic University (Chile)
The LSPs established the following structure for the lesson study network inmathematics:

Brunei:
Canada:Chile:

Hong Kong
Indonesia

Korea:
Malaysia:
Mexico:New Zealand

CIAE, University of Chile
Valparaiso C. University
East China N. University
North East China N. Uni.
HK Institute of Education

National P. for curriculum dev.
Local Project
Local Project

SEAMEO Qitep in MathState Uni. of Yogyakarta
MEXT
University of Tsukuba
Korean National Uni. of Edu.

Regional Project
Local Project

SEAMEO RECSAM
University Science Malaysia
Secretario Educacion Publica
Pedagogical Uni. of Mexico
N/A

Regional Project
National & Local Project
National Project

Papua New Guinea PNG Education Institution
Peru
Ministry of Education

Local Project

National Project

National Project
National Project

Planning Meeting
February, Japanin every economy

Japan :

N/A

Central Fund: APEC LS Projects
Self Fund: Growing LS Community

China:APEC Mathematics, Science & Emergency Preparedness
NSW Department
State project
Education: Lesson Study
University of Melbourne
Local Project
Ministry of Education
National P. with MCI, Singapore
Network Working Cycle
University of Brunei
Local Project

Philippines

UP-NISMED

Local Project / National Project

RussiaMIOO

Local Project

Singapore

National Institute of Edu. R.

Local Project (National Project)

Chinese Taipei Ministry of Education(Local Project(

Thailand
USA

Ministry of Education
Khon Kaen University
Mills College

National Project
Local Project
Local & National Project

Viet Nam

Hue University

Local Project

APEC
HRDWG
Education Network

APEC
HRDWG
Wiki SiteVTRs
e-Textbooks

Report Meeting
September, Thailand

Influential to the Other Economies in Europe, Asia, Africa,
Central & South America such as SEAMEO

Australia:*Project names are the case of the year 2013.
LSPs are on a yearly cycle of Plan, Do and See under HRDWG Education Network.
Due to the flat structure under the lesson study policy, newcomers can be
specialists from the project side if they agreed to engage in the projects in their
9
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japaneconomies. However, newcomers usually come with the APEC funded specialists
because every participating institution sets the grant for pushing the lesson study aswell as newly recommended APEC funded specialists from the government.
At the same time, in the self-funded projects in every economy there are anumber of collaborative works which are done by the bilateral arrangements between
or among economies. This also provides evidence that the network is working well andstimulating every economy's lesson study project under the policy.
2-3. Expected roles of institutions
APEC funds are only to support planning and reporting meetings.
Implementation of the lesson study itself is done by specialists in each economy’s
participating institutions and organizations. Each specialist is expected to establish the
project through self-funding in each economy. The self-fund is usually a grant to theinstitutions and from the organizations such as the Ministry of Education. The lesson
study products, such as videos and e-textbooks, are produced based on it. For setting
the project in each economy, specialists have to write the grant paper for the next year
as well as project overseers (POs don't allow to use the APEC grant for themselves
under APEC regulation. They apply the grant from MEXT, Japan and MOE, Thailand fortheir working every time). Out of this necessity, the project overseers usually discuss
the future plan of LSPs with specialists and specialists views are usually enclosed in the
project proposals.
In the planning and reporting meeting on the APEC funded part, the keynote
speakers are usually recommended from the deeply related institutions in the LSPs
cycle beyond the proposed economies. For example, the year 2013 keynote speakers
were recommended from the Philippines because it was the Philippines which met thestrongest floods and typhoons. The 2014 keynote speakers will be recommended from
Russia, Australia and Indonesia because the theme is fire and eruption.
3. Methodology, Procedure and Tools for Implementation
As stated above, Lesson Study is the methodology for the LSPs. It is applied
yearly and produces several e-contents for supporting Lesson Study Community suchas e-textbook and videos.

10
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

3-1. Lesson Study as for Methodology
Lesson Study, which originated in Japan in 1873 and spread through USA in
1990s (Stigler et al,1999), is a cultural activity for teachers aimed at improvement andinnovation of their teaching for children, led by the teachers.
It was strongly recommended by research in the USA because it is done for
improvement and innovation of education autonomously by teachers and functions
well in Japan. Through the introduction of the lesson study, the role of teacher
educators has changed from lecturers/modulator who knows the established theory to
co-workers with fellow teachers for the establishment of professional knowledge,
self-confidence, and as teachers for children. Because it is done autonomously,
professional development of teachers and curriculum development for children areusually done as a part of teacher’s life. The autonomous feature of lesson study is far
from the traditional teacher training program which usually begins with employing a
consultant and sets the lectures in holydays of teachers which are not usuallycontented with teaching content for tomorrow. For sharing the information such asrevision of curriculum, lecture style workshop is normal however lesson study push thechallenge for the better implementation of curriculum.
In lesson study, teachers work together on planning the class, sharing theirpractice and classrooms with others, and reflecting on the class for further feedback.
Lesson study is usually prepared for the study topic which is necessary for innovation
as well as meeting the objective of the class, which is usually fixed. However, in thecase of the USA and other economies, the introduction of lesson study is itself thestudy topic because there is no cultural practice like in Japan. For example, Catharine
Lewis, a leading researcher of lesson study in U.S., gave lectures at the Planningmeeting in Tokyo for the year 2006 and explained the meaningfulness of the LSPs as
follows:

11
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, JapanThus, lesson study has two types of study topics. The first study topic is developing
sustainable lesson study communities for the improvement of teaching and innovation
around teaching content. The second study topic is the real topic of study in thereform issues.
In this manner, in the first stage of LSPs, the project set the study topic toestablish the lesson study network itself as well as each year's tasks such as
mathematical thinking and communication. Then, LSPs focused on the tasks and, at thethird stage, the LSPs have been working on the tasks of emergency preparedness
education stemming from the prime ministers’ demands. The first and second stagesof the LSPs tried to establish lesson study communities in mathematics. In the third
stage, lesson studies have been used for the methodology for improvement as the
LSPs begins to work in the community beyond just the topic of mathematics.
3-2. Implementation Process: PDCA (plan-do-check-act) cycle
The LSPs are done on a yearly schedule in the three/four phases; Planning,
Implementing, Summarizing and Finalizing (Evaluating), and Adopting (Fourth phase isa part of next year’s project, not necessary included in the yearly schedule).
Phase 1: Planning
From January (or December in the previous year) to March in the same year.

12
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

Goal of Phase 1: Sharing past outcomes for newcomers and setting the theme of thelesson study for producing the model/innovative approaches and knowing the
product of the year from the sample products proposed by the specialists.
December or January: Preparation of the planning meeting. Send theannouncements to each ministry through the HRDWG Education Network.
February: Planning meeting for sharing the theme of the lesson study (supported by
the APEC and Self funds in proposed economy) in Tokyo, Japan
March: Uploading the products of the planning meeting for sharing the expected
outcome at the website on the University of Tsukuba, Japan.
Phase 2: Implementing
From March to August in the same year
Goal of Phase 2: Produce materials such as video and e-textbooks for each economy
utilizing the self-fund in each economy according to the lesson study.
Participating institutions and governmental organization support lesson study
activities and developing e-textbooks under the support of each economy.
Localization will be done based on the episode and problem situations in eacheconomy.
Phase 3: Summarizing and Finalizing
September-December in the same year.
Goal of Phase 3: Developing the recommended materials on the web for
improvement of teaching.
September: Reporting meeting in Khon Kaen, Thailand, is done for improvement of
products from each economy.
November: Each economy finalizes its products based on the recommendation of thereporting meeting. Khon Kaen University uploads the conclusion of the reporting
meeting on the website.
December: University of Tsukuba finalizes all contributions from each economy on
their website.
Phase 4: Adopting
In the next year, finalized products will be uploaded on the APEC HRD Wiki site after
the HRDWG meeting. Each teacher training institutions engages the lesson study for
implementation in their program.
3-3. Selecting process of Specialists for Implementations
In the LSPs, specialists engage in the key role of producing the materials fromthe lesson study in their economy’s own lesson study project. On these grounds,
13
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

project overseers set the requirements of the specialist and keynote speakers in thecall for specialists.
In the case of the 2014 project, the following conditions for specialists whowill be invited through the grant of APEC are described in the full proposal:
Condition 1: The specialists must be influential to the mathematics curriculum(including textbooks) from primary to secondary school.
Condition 2: The specialists must be influential to teacher education.
Condition 3: The specialists can lead the lesson study from primary to secondary
school.
Condition 4: The specialists can develop the booklet from the lesson study.
Condition 5: When the specialists are recommended from economies, theeconomies must guarantee to implement their lesson study projects
under their participating institutions in each economy.
Condition 6: The specialist works or collaborates with the participating institutions
in each economy.
Specialists are recommended from each economy at the firstannouncement—if not, the project overseers recommend from an individual from theLesson Study Network. In this case, the specialist who is recommended from theLesson Study Network has to contact his/her ministry expressing that he/she must
work for the economy.
For bridging between the HRDWG and the EPWG, the project meeting invites speakers
who are specialized in the following subjects in the case of the year 2014:
Keynote Speaker 1: The specialist of disaster science in evacuation
Keynote Speaker 2: The mechanism of bush fires
Keynote Speaker 3: The mechanism of volcanic eruptions
Keynote Speaker 4: The influence of volcanic eruptions
Keynote Speaker A:
Mathematical problem solving and modeling fromelementary to secondary
Keynote Speaker B: Statistical problem solving from elementary to secondary
Keynote Speaker C: How to develop e-textbooks using dbookPro
4. Success Factors

14
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

There are several success factors as follows.
4-1. The project selected the inevitable subjects: mathematics and emergency
preparedness education.
Mathematics is the major literacy subject from elementary level to secondary level.
There are huge numbers of teachers for mathematics. Mathematics is the mostnecessary subject for sustainable development of economies. There are number ofarticles which explain how economic growth is related to mathematics achievement.
Mathematics represents the most important subject for 21st century knowledge andskills. Because of this reason, it is the lesson study in each economy and the main
component of the project which should be funded by the self-fund: this is well
supported by each economy or organization.
4.2 Lesson Study Methodology is appropriate for themes and excellence.
Lesson study was recommended for improvement of teacher education fromthe US department of education (2000. When the first project was established, APEC
economies already had the mindset to introduce it due to US influence. Otherwise,
lesson study was only a cultural practice in Japan (since 1873, established by the hostinstitution, the University of Tsukuba for introducing European style of education on
the context of improvement by themselves).
The following are the answers of each specialist (math-educator) from eacheconomy to a series of questions about the influence of the LSPs in their economy (Allitems are answered in the context of mathematics education. The survey is done
through e-mail in August, 2013.):
Q1-5. Lesson Study project is influential because it improved the methods of in-service
teacher education.
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

Mean

8

4

2

1

3.3

Q1-8. Because it enhanced the mathematics education research for teachers andclassrooms.
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

Mean

7

6

2

1

3.2

15
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

Q1-9. Because it produced good practice and influenced teachers.
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

Mean

9

4

2

1

3.3

4-3. Project are managed by a Raising Economy and a Matured Economy
Japan, an advanced and matured economy, usually shows excellent lesson
study examples for changing mindsets and meeting innovative goals for specialists inevery economy. A raising economy such as Thailand shows the possible innovation
within reach for under achieving economies.
4-4. The LSPs are managed by the Lesson Study Policies:
Policy 1) Everyone (teacher or researcher) is a challenger. He/She has the ownership ofthe challenges. Open classroom is functioning for leaning from each other. It isinnovation for teaching with the objective of developing children.
Policy 2) Instead of action research lead by the researchers, lesson studies recommendthat researchers learn from the good practice of teachers and work together withteachers on the real responses from children. It establishes a flat structured
community for innovation. Teachers respect each other through the reflection of
their practices.
Under the policies, the projects never distinguish between participants, speakers,
and others, even if the gender issue is considered. All of them are regarded as
specialists and everyone has ownership in the meeting. For example, the reporting
meeting, the summarizing and recommendation session, which are the mostimportant sessions in the meetings, are usually managed by the specialists who are notcoming from the original proposing economies of Thailand and Japan because theobjective is to produce products for all economies.
4-5. Every specialist from economy has ownership under lesson study policies.
The main phase is Phase 2, which is managed by the self-funds. Every
specialist proposes their innovation based on their challenges in Phase 2 at the Phase 3
and 1. They also propose new ideas for the project from their practice. Every specialist
lead the innovation on his/her economy's setting.

16
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

4-6. Every specialist well supported by the self-fund from the ministry or institution.
Because the lesson study is the newest development methodology
recommended by US government and LSPs are the project under APEC withmathematics and science as the most necessary subjects, specialists can work under
the support of government and their belonging institutions.
4-7. The products such as video and e-textbooks produced by every economy are
visible and distributed through the web.
From the beginning of the first project, it was proposed to make end productvisible on the web. E-textbooks lead the efforts recently begun in each economy. The
projects used the e-textbook editor dbookPro which is distributed freely. Through theuse of e-textbooks, teachers are also able to use dbookPro to make their own edits tothe e-textbook.
5. Best Practices
The projects developed a number of videos and e-textbooks. They are visibleon the APEC HRDWG wiki site and the project site. Especially because of the influenceof the LSPs, the HRDWG wiki site itself was established as the lesson study site for all
economies, which was not limited to mathematics:
Produced Videos:
http://www.criced.tsukuba.ac.jp/math/apec/
http://hrd.apec.org/index.php/Lesson_Study
Produced e-Textbooks:
http://math-info.criced.tsukuba.ac.jp/museum/dbook_site/#e
Those products on the web represent the results of the good practices of LSPs.
If the product of every project is within the obligation on the proposal
document for APEC funding, every project should be recognized working well. To berecognized as the best practices, here, LSPs re-define the best practice by how the
project worked influential beyond obligations and limitations of APEC funding. It
means that if the APEC project included several further practices which show that the
project is well influenced into economies, it will be the factors for Best practices.
Actually, Phase 2 of LSP usually done by each self fund in every economy. On thismeaning, there are a number of local best practices. Here, we would like to show thesame points such as the collaboration among economies:

17
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan5-1. Best Practices for Networking by the self-funds in economies
The following lists shows how each organization and institution are
synchronized with APEC project through their self-funds in 2012: (see on the next
page)

18
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, JapanThe list indicates that each specialist gets the grant for their contribution in eacheconomy. This shows that Phase 2 support by every economy is the main part of the
project activity and that the APEC grants, which support Phase 1 and 3, are stimulating
activity in every economy.
The followings is the answers for questionnaires from the specialists in theeconomies regarding the influence of the APEC LSPs.
1-1. In your economy, APEC lesson study project is influential.
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

2.5:Mean

7

4

4

1

3.0

1-2. Because it established the local lesson study projects.
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

2.5:Mean

6

7

2

1

3.1

*Non-existence of local lesson study projectmeans only existing the national project.
Looking at the average viewpoint, most of people recognize that the lesson study
project is ongoing in each economy.
The followings evidences 5-1-1 and 5-1-2 are further achievements under the networkwith self-funds beyond the expected outcomes of LSPs on the project proposals.
5-1-1. Best Practices with all collaboration of Lesson Study Network
Based on every effort, the LSPs have been publishing the APEC lesson study
series in English for worldwide reference.

19
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

5-1-2. Best Practices with collaboration between/among economies
On the LSPs, specialists discussed the content deeply for lesson study in Phase
2 at the preparation meeting in Phase 1 and the report meeting in Phase 3. They
usually compared textbooks with each other in order to produce the best practice. In
the project meetings, there were usually higher officials participating who search forinnovative ideas to improve teaching practice. As a consequence, Japanese
Mathematics Textbooks were adopted into the Thailand project and the Mexican
project from the English edition. Singaporean Mathematics Textbooks were adopted
into the Brunei Project and the Chilean Project from the English edition.
Best Practice (1): Following is the sample pictures of textbooks (11 volumes) for
elementary level from Japanese to English and English to Thai:
みんなと学ぶ小学校算数（Japanese）↓
Study with your friends : mathematics
for elementary school↓เรียนคณิตศาสตร์กบั เพื่อนๆ คณิตศาสตร์
สําหรับระดับชัน้ ประถมศึกษา ชัน้ ประถมศึกษาปี ท่ี

The 30 project schools with 300 teachers and 5 teacher education universities areusing these textbooks for innovation.
Best Practice (2): Following are sample pictures of the textbooks (13 volumes) for all
Mexican teachers colleges (450
schools x 160 students) withcollaboration among Mexico,
Chile,
andJapan.
The
translations into Spanish werefirst done by the Chileans andfinalized by the Ministry of
Education,
Mexico.
The
Ministry of Education, Mexico
officiallyselectedandpublished it for Teachers
College Textbooks via Pearson
20
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

which is the largest textbook publisher in Latin America. It is currently referred to by
the projects in Peru and Chile. Non-APEC economies such as Brazil are now also using it
for their lesson study projects.
Best Practice (3): The Ministry of Education, Brunei, compared the Singapore andJapanese Textbooks and created the teacher education project which includes a lesson
study with the Singapore specialist.
Best Practice (4): The project by the state
government of New South Wales, Australia,
implements the lesson study by videos,published two teacher training materials, andtwo e-books from the government with thecollaboration of Japan and Thailand. All
school teachers in NSW are allowed to use
these materials for free. The ministry of
Education, Papua New Guinea and the
University of Chile are developing theiredition, too.
Best Practice (5): Valparaiso University, Chile,which has the only PhD program formathematics education in Chile published thefour books for lesson study with thecollaboration of Japan and distributed it,
along with videos, freely via their website.
Those books areusedasreferencesforteacher
educations.
Best Practice (6):Every self-funded
project in an
economyestablishedits
own website or uploaded their contents, via such methods as youtube for sharing
ideas for lesson study activities. Two examples are:http://www.qitepinmath.org/?id=eng3jGmABYTE
21
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxWZxepY5m4(Most of the related videos on this YouTube list are related projects in the given
economy)Like those example on the web, every self-funded project in every economy on thelesson study network produced or influenced the production of a number of lesson
study videos and training programs. It
means that APEC self-funded LSPs arefunctioning well for stimulating activatesin every economy, producing materials forinnovations.
http://www.criced.tsukuba.ac.jp/math/ap
ec/others/
Best Practice (7): Singapore supported
textbooks in Spanish for Chile.
5-1-3. Best Practices in economies
Many participating institutions such as RECSAM (Malaysia),
Qitep in Math (Indonesia) and UP-NISMED (Philippines)
published Lesson Study guidebooks or booklet for teachers.
5-2. Best Practices as the models for teachers' culturalactivities who ensure the better quality of education in
APEC economies
Many of the APEC funded projects are planned andset at one meeting regarding the topic, such as curriculum reform issues. APEC funded
projects usually have to challenge for getting influential participants beyond thelimitation of the APEC grant. On this context, there is difficulty to be influential forteachers directly even if they are key components for innovation in education. Thus,
several APEC projects usually face the problem of securing sustainable developmenton the topics beyond the original participants of the meeting--even if the meetingproduces the best images in educational reform for the future.
In 2006 and 2007, the lesson study project was evaluated well in all education
network projects and influenced other economies' project proposals for thesustainable development of the project because it has the framework of PDCA (Plan,
Do, Check and Act) for the sustainable development of project with visible products. In
2008, lesson study is also proposed in the priority areas of English as a Second

22
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

language in Chinese Taipei. Lesson study communities have been growing beyond
mathematics and science in relation to the Emergency Preparedness Education.
Before the LSPs, there was no custom to upload videos of the classroom byteachers. Through the LAPs' several websites and the HRDWG wiki site, the lesson
study models are distributed by the web. On YouTube, currently, there are a numberof similar lesson study videos which can be freely seen which could be seen as being
directly influenced by the official sites. Those videos on the web illustrate that LSPs has
been influential to develop the culture of lesson study by teachers.
5-3. Best Practices as the model of multi-year projects in HRDWG
Especially in mathematics and science, there are no multi-year projects. LSPs are thefirst project for mathematics which has the project cycle. At the HRDWG meeting 2008,
Lead Shepherd, Dr. Alan Ginsberg proposed the importance of the multi-year andvisible project for consistency using the example of the LSPs. In all multi-year projects,
the features of LSPs are as follows;a) It will use the PDCA cycle for the planning meeting, lesson study, and thereporting meeting even if every year changes the theme.
b) It is trying to reach teachers even if the projects are managed by the
specialists.
c) Managed by the network institutions and organizations supported by theparticipating economies even if it is proposed from Thailand and Japan.
d) Visible products such as videos and e-textbooks are produced.
5-4. Best Practices for producing visible and user-revisable content such as Videos
and e-Textbooks for sharing in APEC economies: In relation to ICT Education and
APEC HRDWG wiki site.
It is necessary for every project to share the outcome of the project in APEC
economies. Visibility, which was quoted by the Lead Shepherd in the 2008 HRDWG
meeting, has been the keyword of the LSPs since the first announcement of the firstproject in 2006. HRDWG setup the APEC HRDWG wiki site. Under this policy, LSPs havebeen producing the website and e-contents for sharing outcomes. The first stage of
LSPs focused on video materials. Beginning in the second stage of the project, LSPs
included the e-textbook as a component. In the third stage, LSPs focused on
e-textbooks as the major products for Emergency Preparedness Education.

23
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

Following are the questions for the specialists in relation to e-textbooks:
Q5-1. On the APEC project, you newly learned what the e-textbook is.
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

2.5:Mean

13

1

3

0

3.6

Q5-2. On the APEC project, you newly learned how to develop e-textbook.
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

2.5:Mean

11

2

3

0

3.5

Q5-3. Your economy has a plan to shift to the e-textbook.
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

2.5:Mean

5

3

5

2

2.7

Q5-4. The APEC project has also influenced your economy to develop e-textbooks .
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

2.5:Mean

4

6

3

3

2.7

ICT education itself is also necessary in this knowledge based society and has beenenhanced through the HRDWG education network as well as through mathematics andscience.
In the second stage, LSPs have been distributing the freeware dbookPro,
developed by the University of Tsukuba, which enables every teacher to produce
e-textbooks using general software, such as Microsoft Word, to develop sharable
content on the web. dbookPro is a simple software for teachers for producing
e-textbook: e-textbooks will be produced from a Microsoft Word file to dbookPro, bydrag and drop only. For the visible product, the project also pushes the active use of
ICT in classrooms. Without teachers being able to produce content or use content
produced by others, teachers cannot use ICT in education. Experiencing the productionof e-textbooks in mathematics from elementary to secondary level is the best
opportunity for trying to introduce ICT into education. This is because mathematics,
24
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

which has the largest population of teachers, as well as language, and is the one of the
major subjects to use ICT in education.
Currently, every self-funded project in each economy is using dbookPro to
produce e-textbooks for teachers. They can revise content by themselves. LSPs are,thus, influencing innovative ICT education as well as innovation of mathematics,
science and emergency preparedness education.
5-6. Best Practices as for Mathematics and Emergency Preparedness Education as for
the Priority Areas on HRDWG and APEC with bridging the different APEC Fora
Mathematics is the basic subject for science, engineering and social science.
There are a number of research studies which demonstrate the correlations between
economic success and achievement in mathematics. The APEC HRDWG Education
network has been pushing mathematics and science education as the priority areas forcollaboration in APEC because it is the core competency for economic development, as
well as language, for each economy.
Emergency Preparedness Education is also a hot issue because of climate change andeconomic growth. Most of the economies' GDPs are growing every year at a rate ofmore than 4%. In order to keep growing, every economy considers how to avoid risks
which would inhibit growth. Thus, Emergency Preparedness Working Group (EPWG)
became a working group in 2010. Bridging between Fora has been enhanced by theprime ministers. The LSPs are the first project in HRDWG for Emergency Preparedness
Education which bridge HRDWG with EPWG. The following are the answers given by
specialist in each economy.
Q2-1. In your economy, Emergency Preparedness Education is a necessary topic in every
school.
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

2.5:Mean

10

2

1

3

3.2

Q2-2. It is enhanced in the Ministry of Education documents.
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

2.5:Mean

8

3

2

3

3.0

25
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

Q2-3. Could you specify the class or activity in every school for teaching it?
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

2.5:Mean

3

3

4

4

2.3

2-4. Is it taught within the academic subjects or the out of the academic subjects?
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

2.5:Mean

4

4

0

6

2.4

2-5. Do teachers have the opportunity to learn Emergency Preparedness Education?
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

2.5:Mean

2

3

7

4

2.2

The results imply that even if Emergency Preparedness Education is expected to betaught there is no clear time for teaching it in the school curriculum. Mathematics isthe subject which should be taught almost every day from elementary to secondary
level as well as language and on this reason, thus, it is the best subject to teach thescientific concepts for risk management.
6. Strengths and Weakness/ Transferability
6-1. Strengths
Strengths are already described. If we enhance the unique points, the following
strengths are only for LSPs.
6-1-1. Lesson study network in Mathematics Education under HRDWG Education
Network
LSPs established the network for HRDWG Education Network for Mathematics
Education.
6-1-2. Producing free re-producible e-textbook on the web.
As long as there is an indication in the reference, the e-textbook can be revised. The
software to produce e-textbook is free.

26
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

6-2.Weakness
Weakness is usually contrasted from strengthens points.
6-2-1. LSP Network is open for everyone however office working staffs andresearchers have to change their mindsets to work with teachers depending on
economies
Based on the policy of lesson study, the LSP Network established a flat culture
in education. There are economies where government officials are changed with every
election within their hierarchy from top to bottom. There are other economies where
researchers are not expected to learn from teachers. In some economies, researchers
have only observed teachers and experienced the classroom when they were children
themselves. In this context, there are severe obstacles to the improvement ofeducation because their images of education are only based on their childhood
experiences. They do not have any experience to work towards educational innovation
together with teachers. Therefore, they find it difficult to explain the innovation in a
way that is understandable to teachers. The LSP Network can be really meaningful inthis situation, however, they have to change their mind set from just addressing
teachers to working with teachers in the production of better education, step by step.
This means that the flat culture itself is a potential obstacle for researchers
who would like to work in their closed offices as they have to change their mindset tobe public servants for an open society, with teachers as well as government official intheir Ministry of Education. The LSP Network still needs to enlarge the community toinclude the people who are still only working in offices.
6-2-2. LSP Network is trying to produce the activity to integrate both top down andbottom up approaches for educational innovation however need the years for
integration.
Lesson study is not only an approach for the curriculum implementation but
also for curriculum development and revision. It produce curriculum for theparticipating economies. To synchronize these two approaches, it may take decades
because it includes the establishment of the communities and evaluation of thecurriculum itself, as well as the implementation of curriculum.
If the time is given, it will establish better curriculum and better practice.
However there are economies where educational policy changes every election andthere is a need to revise the curriculum without the appropriate time for theevaluation of implementations. From this situation, the lesson study cannot easily
synchronize the revision of curriculum for the economy.
27
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, JapanThe following are answers by the specialists to a question regarding curriculum
development due to LSPs:
Q1-7. Because it improved the methods of curriculum development in general such as
the economy level.
4:Strongly Y.

3:Yes

2:No

1:Strongly N.

2.5:Mean

3

6

3

4

2.5

Specialists are engaging in the lesson study with teachers and producing local
curriculum for the project. However, there are people who feel difficulty in adopting
their products into the curriculum. The economies which find difficulty in using thelesson study methodology are usually producing their new curriculum via comparison
with other economies and their current curriculum because of the limited amount oftime to revise their curriculum. In the case of those economies, lesson study is limited
for curriculum implementation and revision of local curriculum such as school district,and does not work for the revision of national curriculum.
6-2-3. Limitation of re-producing contents
In the project, the copyright of videos and textbooks belong to the authors eventhough the authors have to allow the free distribution of them on the web. For
example, student’s pictures are allowed for authors to use and distribute through the
web however there are limitations regarding changing the pictures of students. The
content of e-textbooks can be reproduced by the indication of it in the reference,indicating the original authors. However pictures, especially student pictures, are stillnecessary to consider on a case by case basis even if most of them are allowed to use
by free.
Acknowledgments
The Author, Masami Isoda, PhD, the project overseer of LSPs deeply acknowledges
with Maitree Inprasitha, PhD, the co-project overseer of LSPs that the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan and the Ministry of
Education, Thailand made possible this project. The Project Overseers also deeply
acknowledge co-sponsoring economies, other participated economies for theirsupporting LSPs and APEC secretariat which is hardly worked for the progress of LSPs.
LSPs have been managed by the host institutions, Center for Research on International
Cooperation in Educational Development (CRICED), University of Tsukuba, Japan and
28
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, Japan

Center for Research on Mathematics Education (CRME), Khon Kaen University,
Thailand. Every specialist and Project Overseers have been well collaborated on the
LSP Network. We would like to say deeply acknowledge to all of our institutions andour colleagues in each of lesson study community for their working with LSPs. All of
our communities have been supported by the various levels of the staffs in thegovernments. We would like to acknowledge them because we could continue LSP
under their efforts to establish and develop LSP communities.
Last but not least, the author would like to acknowledge MEXT and Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Japan, Ministry of Education, Korea, and Korean Educational Development Institute(KEDI) and Institute of APEC Collaborative Education (IACE) which organizing this APEC
Education Cooperation Project (ECP) symposium for giving him the opportunity toreflect on the activity of LSPs and developing this report.
References
APEC, Retrieved Aug 31, 2013, from APEC website: http://www.apec.org/
Lists of LSPs:
The year 2006 project: APEC Project HRD 03/2006“A collaborative study on innovations for teaching and learning mathematics
in different cultures among the APEC Member Economies”
The year 2007 project: APEC Project HRD 02/2007“Collaborative Studies on Innovations for Teaching and Learning Mathematics
in Different Cultures (II) - Lesson Study focusing on MathematicalThinking”
The year 2008-2009 project: APEC Project HRD 02/2008“Collaborative Studies on Innovations for Teaching and Learning Mathematics
in Different Cultures (III) - Lesson Study focusing on Communication”
The year 2010 project: APEC Project HRD 01/2010s“Lesson Study for Implementing Curriculum: Developing Innovative
Assessment Problem”
The year 2011 project: HRD 02/2011S“Innovation on Problem Solving Based Mathematics Textbooks andE-textbooks”
The year 2012 project: HRD 04 11A“Emergency Preparedness Education: Learning from Experience, Science ofDisasters, and Preparing for the Future”
29
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.

Drafted by Masami ISODA, CRICED, University of Tsukuba, JapanThe year 2013 project: S HRD 05 12A
Emergency Preparedness Education: Learning from Experience, Science ofDisasters, and Preparing for the Future (II) – Focus on Flood and Typhoon
The year 2014 project: HRD 04 2013A – Emergency Preparedness Education:
Learning from Experience, Science of Disasters, and Preparing for the Future(III) – Focus on Fire and Eruption
Best Practices Language Applications Lesson Study Project, Retrieved Aug 31, 2013,
from APEC HREWG Wiki website:
http://hrd.apec.org/index.php/Best_Practices_Language_Applications_Lesson_Stu
dy_Project
US Department of Education. (2000). Before It’s Too Late: A Report to the Nation fromthe National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21stCentury. ERIC Clearinghouse.
OECD PISA, Retrieved Aug 31, 2013, from OECD PISA website:
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/aboutpisa/
Stigler, J. W., Gonzales, P., Kawanaka, T., Knoll, S., & Serrano, A. (1999). The TIMSS
videotape classroom study. US Department of Education. National Center for
Education Statistics, Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. http://nces.
ed. gov/timss. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/pubs99/1999074.pdf
UNESCO. (2000). The Dakar framework for action. The World Declaration on
Education.
UNESCO, Education for Sustainable Development, Retrieved Aug 31, 2013, from
UNESCO website:
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-sustainable-development/

30
Final Edition was published in Ju Hur, Adienne S. Park edited (2013). APEC Education Cooperation Project (ECP): Bast Practices and Success Factors of
Educational Cooperation:: Vol.4 Global Education and Sustainable Growth. Seoul, Korea: Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), pp15-50.