Lesson study (jugyou kenkyuu) has spread outside Japan in the last decade, providing opportunities to see how lesson study fares in countries where the instructional practices and curriculum materials differ from those in Japan. This study reports an elementary mathematics lesson study cycle from the United States. To investigate the nature of the support for teachers' learning during the curriculum study ("kyouzai kenkyuu") phase of lesson study, we first compared a US. and Japanese teacher's manual in their treatment of area of quadrilaterals. The coding scheme captured features hypothesized to influence teachers' learning from curriculum including information on student thinking, learning trajectory and rationale for pedagogical decisions (Ball & Cohen, 1996). While the US. teacher's manual provided more correct student answers and more often suggested adaptations for particular categories of students (e.g., English-language learners), the Japanese manual provided more varied individual student responses and more rationale for pedagogical choices. We provided the Japanese curriculum and teacher's c manual to a US. lesson group and observed them during lesson study; US. teachers found some Japanese curriculum features useful (e.g., student thinking) and other features challenging (e.g., focus on a single problem). A comparison of the US. teachers' pre-and post-lesson study cycle lesson plans suggested that the teachers more thoroughly anticipated student thinking after working with the Japanese textbooks and teacher's manuals. We suggest that kyouzai kenkyuu on a well-designed teacher's manual may enable "coherent curriculum" at the policy level to be enacted in the classroom.

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Seikatsu-Tsuzurikata is an educational method related to teaching of written expression for children that was pioneered in elementary school education settings throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and which was widely adopted in Japan in the 1930s. It is a unique method developed in Japan that uses both school and non-school resources, not only in written expression education, but also as a foundation for intellectual training and character building. Using this method, children and young people craft written compositions using material from their own lives, which they then share with others. From an international perspective, it has been noted that the Seikatsu-Tsuzurikata movement shares features with the type of pragmatism advocated by Charles Sanders Peirce in the USA beginning in the 1870s. It is also relevant to note there are similarities between the literacy education practices of Paulo Freire, who developed critical pedagogy in Brazil, and aspects of the "living, working academic ability "found in Seikatsu-Tsuzurikata. The aim of this paper is to clarify the ideology of Seikatsu-Tsuzurikata and identify the features of its practice. In this process, a number of points will be examined. These are (1) the relationship with Japan's education system; (2) the establishment and sphere of pedagogic action of Seikatsu-Tsuzurikata; (3) the realism of Seikatsu-Tsuzurikata; (4) the collectivism of Seikatsu-Tsuzurikata; and (5) whether or not Seikatsu-Tsuzurikata can be classified as education. In particular the ideology of Seikatsu-Tsuzurikata and the features related to its practice will be highlighted through an examination of the background leading to its establishment, facts regarding the realism of the thoughts and actions of one of the primary originators Tadayoshi Sasaoka (1897 1937), and collectivism as practiced by Tsuzurikata teachers.

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Over the past five and a half years starting in 2006, forty practitioners at a research group Kakutokugata Kyoiku Kenkyukai have worked toward reform in educational methodology. The purposes of their research have been to enable students to gain embodied learning experience, and to deepen and enrich their learning by introducing dramatic activities to learning in subject areas. Due to the scarcity of research existing in Japan on application of dramatic activities as tools of learning, the group research projects can be deemed pioneering work. The outcomes of the research have been published in three books. One deals with the results of theoretical research. A model of acquisition-oriented learning consisting of four elements-research work, discussion/debate, presentation, and drama work-is proposed in this book along with a model of teacher training programs. The other two books cover areas of research on practice. They argue for incorporating sixteen dramatic activities and seventy activities for warming up, as well as suggest an insight into the ways engagement in these activities can improve teachers' expertise. A total of eighty-six activities have been selected for these books after trying a variety of activities in actual classrooms to verify their effectiveness. Such pioneering research has been made possible owing to the group's efforts and enthusiasm. The members have shared the same sense of mission to bring forth reform in Japanese classrooms. They have had a common perspective of their research, and a creative community of discourse has been established among the members. The members have also started giving open lessons and workshops across Japan for promotion of their research outcomes and for self-training.

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This study examines academic trends in learning and assessment theories based on the OPPA (One Page Portfolio Assessment), which was developed in 2002. The study also clarffies the theoretical framework, teaching practices, application, and effectiveness of the OPPA. The OPPA was developed to solve three teaching and learning challenges: (1) how to cultivate abilities and cornpetencies in learners, (2) how to validate that this is achieved, and (3) how to help teachers in improving their teaching. First, to gain an overview of the OPPA, this study examines its basic structure and theoretical framework using the following five points: (a) an academic achievement model that focuses on the formation and acquisition of achievement; (b) a portfolio assessment that focuses on learning processes and change; (c) diagnostic, formative, and summative evaluations on one page; (d) cultivation of learners' competencies by internalization, reflection, and externalization of thought and cognitive processes; and (e) a retrospective self-evaluation of the entire learning. This study then examines the creation of teaching plans and OFF sheets, the application of teaching and learning practices with these sheets, and methods to improve lessons using the sheets. On the basis of the responses of learners who used the OPPA method, its effectiveness is outlined in nine points, such as its capability to transform learning and impart to learners the significance and necessity of learning. Finally, this paper touches on issues not covered by the OPPA, such as teaching methods to increase the competencies of all learners.

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This paper considers the contemporaly prominence of the concept of social justice and identifies two influential strands of thought that currently affect thinking about education: John Rawls' notion of justice as fairness and a more emancipatory conception typified by critical pedagogy. With this prominence the term has gathered a rhetorical force and been subject to ideological degeneration. The paper goes on to consider ways in which the notion of social justice has been "borrowed", especially in the light of the hegemony of English in the international research field. Further colonising consequences are examined, with reference to the work of Naoki Sakai, in relation to the development of notions of subjectivity and identity, in what might be described as a new "Occidentalism ". In conclusion, the emphasis on cooperation in Rawls is contrasted with a notion of conversation found in Stanley Cavell and Ralph Waldo Emerson. This is epitomised by values of receptivity, openness, and resourcefulness, and is suggestive of a more Eastern sensibility.

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It goes without saying that character development occurs in school. However it is necessaiy to make that very premise an object of analysis regarding the issue of school articulation. This article will reveal the establishment of character development through schools by focusing on the formation of elementary education as well as the expansion ofpost-elementary education in the 1930s. In addition, this article will present the perspective and viewpoint of Japan c public acceptance of schools, informed by youth, family businesses, teachers, educational practices, etc. leading up to the post-war establishment of a 6-3-3-4 education system.

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