The Learning Study module developed in one of the teacher training institutes in Hong Kong, the HKIED, is an attempt to enable student teachers to improve their lesson preparation skills through engaging in action research in the form of Learning Study. This 30 hour taught module, introduced in 2006 to all Bed Year Two students (about 400 in total), is designed to integrate with the practicum component of the programme to allow students to learn the related theoretical framework and then work in subject groups to conduct Learning Study projects in schools during their School Attachment. This paper will examine the implementation of the module after its first year of operation, with a focus on the difficulties encountered and the resolutions that have been sought. The paper will also evaluate, through questionnaires and interviews, the impact of the module on developing students’ understanding and skills in doing Learning Study and their collaborative group planning skills. Finally, the potential for using Learning Study as a model for collaborative practice in initial teacher education will be discussed.

This paper introduces the distinctive features of Learning Study, a branch of lesson study, conducting Hong Kong. It uses a case to illustrate how Learning Study, based on a framework derived from the Theory of Variation, can become a powerful tool to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools. This paper argues that a conceptual framework that has cornsensus from the research team will form a strong underpinning and help facilitate professionl dialogue between researchers and teachers, therefore extending the potential of lesson study as a tool for improving instruction.
[Copyright © 2007 Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Nagoya University.]

This paper explores how Learning Study, a Hong Kong version of the Japanese Lesson Study, serves to relate teaching to learning at the classroom level. Learning Study is premised on a conceptual framework that builds on three types of variation in a specific object of learning: variation in students' understanding of the object of learning (V1); variation in teachers' understanding and ways of handling the object (V2); and the use of patterns of variation based on the Theory of Variation (V3). Each Learning Study begins with a careful consideration of what pupils are supposed to learn (i.e. object of learning) and what is/are critical for them to be able to learn it (i.e. critical features). A pre- test is used to help the team to collect pupils' prior understandings of the object of learning which may constitute their learning difficulties. Taking into account students' different understandings of the object of learning, teachers collaborate with researchers from tertiary institutes to develop ways to structure the lesson in terms of pattern of variation aiming to make possible the learning of the critical features identified for the object of learning. Teachers in the team then teach the lesson in cycles. Lesson observation, post-lesson conference, post- test and post-lesson student interview are arranged after each cycle of lesson and the data collected are analyzed and triangulated to optimize the improvement that can be made in the next cycle. This paper draws on the data of two learning studies supported by the government-funded Progressive and Innovative Primary Schools Project of the Hong Kong Institute of Education and discusses how the teachers became aware of what was crucial in teaching the chosen topic – the critical features that students had to attend to, by relating the act of teaching to the corresponding student learning outcomes.

There is a growing consensus that schools and practising teachers can, in collaboration and/or in partnership with higher education institutions, make valuable contributions to initial and continuous teacher development, specifically when teachers can see how their efforts result in improved student learning and achievement. Learning Study, a Hong Kong version of the Japanese Lesson Study, was developed and used as a tool in a three-year project (2000 - 2003) for improving teaching and learning. Learning Study, which is built on a school-university partnership model, and is grounded in a theoretical framework of variation (Marton & Booth, 1997), was found to be powerful for teachers' professional development. In four years' time, Learning Study has spread from two primary schools to over a hundred primary and secondary schools, and over a hundred Learning Studies had been developed. Learning Study was also used in mentoring to facilitate the forming of a "learning community", to supplement the one to one mentor-mentee model, where the professional growth of all teachers involved was enhanced. In this symposium, we will illustrate how learning communities can be facilitated through engaging teachers in action research cycles of Learning Studies, in which teachers are empowered to learn from their students, from each other and from research as well.

Drawing on the empirical data of the Learning Study projects conducted in primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong since 2000, this paper discusses the relationship between teacher act and the improvement of students' learning. This paper argues that students' perception of the object of learning depends on how they experience the pattern of variation created by the teacher during the teaching act. "What varies" and "what remains invariant" both matter. Thus teaching should be a conscious structuring act, where teachers actively construct the learning experiences for the students so that they can experience appropriate variations in the object of learning, in order to bring about the intended discernment and learning.
[Copyright of Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) at http://www.aare.edu.au]