Primary Mathematics Preservice Teachers’ Reflections on Lesson Study-Inspired Collaborative Planning: A Didactical Suitability Perspective

This study investigated primary preservice teachers' (PSTs) reflections on participating in a collaborative planning model inspired by lesson study (LS). The planning model includes collaboratively brainstorming lesson ideas, planning a lesson, discussing a classroom video on the planned content, receiving feedback, revising the lesson, and writing a reflection. PSTs submitted a reflection related to planning, and the data were collected for this study. Thirty-six reflection entries were input into Excel for analysis. Using an a priori coding informed by the Didactical Suitability Criteria (DSC) framework, we analyzed the aspects PSTs prioritized (breadth) and their decisions regarding changes to lesson plans (depth). The findings show that PSTs focused more on the interactional , epistemic , mediational , differentiation , and ecological aspects. PSTs made different decisions regarding their revisions, from keeping them as is to adding new components with justifications based on their interpretations of learning theories and principles. Discussions about how collaborative planning that maintains LS's essential features and uses DSC can support PSTs in reflecting on salient teaching and learning features are included.