Lesson Study Model of 4-H Professional Development: Data-Driven Improvements to Educator Practice

Authors

  • Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty University of California Cooperative Extension San Benito, Santa Cruz, and Monterey Counties
  • Steven M. Worker University of California Cooperative Extension Marin, Sonoma, and Napa Counties
  • Martin H. Smith University of California - Davis Departments of Population Health and Reproduction and Human Ecology

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/jyd.2019.693

Keywords:

lesson study, communities of practice, professional development, 4-H

Abstract

Educator professional development in the 4-H Youth Development Program needs improvement. Lesson study, an iterative and educator-centered approach to professional development, has proven to be effective in school-based settings; however, research on the model in youth development programs is limited. The present study investigated the use of lesson study with professional Cooperative Extension staff, adult 4-H volunteers, and teenage 4-H volunteers in different 4-H contexts in three state programs. Findings revealed improvements in educators’ data-driven decision-making, content knowledge, lesson planning and implementation, and social connections across all contexts. To work effectively within the 4-H context, however, some adaptations to the model were necessary.

Author Biographies

Lynn Schmitt-McQuitty, University of California Cooperative Extension San Benito, Santa Cruz, and Monterey Counties

4-H Youth Development Advisor

UCCE San Benito, Santa Cruz, and Monterey Counties

County Director, San Benito County

Steven M. Worker, University of California Cooperative Extension Marin, Sonoma, and Napa Counties

Associate 4-H Youth Development Advisor

UCCE Marin, Sonoma, and Napa Counties

Martin H. Smith, University of California - Davis Departments of Population Health and Reproduction and Human Ecology

Specialist in Cooperative Extension, Science Education

Departments of Population Health and Reproduction and Human Ecology

References

Arnold, M. E., & Gifford, L. (Eds). (2014). YA4-H! Youth Advocates for Health – Building successful youth-adult partnerships. Corvallis: Oregon State University Public Health Extension.

Bissonnette, J. D., & Caprino, K. (2014). A call to action research: Action research as an effective professional development model. Mid-Atlantic Education Review, 2(1), 12-22.

Borden, L. M., Schlomer, G. L., Wiggs, C. B. (2011). The evolving role of youth workers. Journal of Youth Development, 6(3), 126-138. doi:10.5195/jyd.2011.179

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Creswell, J. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Dantonio, M. (2001). Collegial Coaching: Inquiry into the Teaching Self. Research for the Practitioner Series. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa International.

Doig, B., & Groves, S. (2011). Japanese Lesson study: Teacher professional development through communities of inquiry. Mathematics Teacher Education and Development, 13(1), 77-93.

Dudley, P. (2011). How lesson study orchestrates key features of teacher knowledge and teacher learning to create profound changes in professional practice. Presented at the World Association of Lesson Studies Annual Conference, Tokyo.

Eisenhart, M. (2006). Representing qualitative data. In J. Green, G. Camilli, & P. Elmore (Ed.), Handbook of Complementary Methods in Education Research (4th ed., pp. 567-581). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Eshach, H. (2007). Bridging in-school and out-of-school learning: Formal, non-formal, and informal education. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 16(2), 171-190. doi:10.1007/s10956-006-9027-1

Fanning, R. M., & Gaba, D. M. (2007). The role of debriefing in simulation-based learning. Simulation in Healthcare, 2(2), 115-125.

Fernandez, C. (2002). Learning from Japanese approaches to professional development: The case for lesson study. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(5), 393-405. doi:10.1177/002248702237394

Fleischer, C., & Fox, D. L. (2003). Beginning words: Toward meaningful on-line professional development in English education. English Education, 35(4), 259-261. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40173159

Garet, M. S., Porter, A. C., Desimone, L., Birman, B. F., & Yoon, K. S. (2001). What makes professional development effective? Results from a national sample of teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 38(4), 915-945. doi:10.3102/00028312038004915

Guskey, T. R., & Yoon, K. S. (2009). What works in professional development? Phi Delta Kappan, 90(7), 495–500. doi:10.1177/003172170308401007

Hatch, J. A. (2002). Doing qualitative research in education settings. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Hino, J., & Kahn, C. (2016). Hybrid teaching in Extension: Learning at the crossroads. Journal of Extension, 54(4). Article 4IAW3. Retrieved from https://www.joe.org/joe/2016august/iw3.php

Krueger, R. A., & Casey, M. A. (2016). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Lerner, J. V., Phelps, E., Forman, Y. E., Bowers, E. P. (2009). Domains of Individual Development in Adolescence. In Handbook of Adolescent Psychology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published Online: 30 October 2009. doi:1002/9780470479193.adlpsy001016

Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., Almerigi, J. B., Theokas, C., Phelps, E., Gestosdottir, S. Naudeau, S., Jelicic, H., Alberts, A., Ma, L., Smith, L. M., Bobek, D. L., Richman-Raphael, D., Simpson, I., Christiansen, E. D., & von Eye, A. (2005). Findings from the first wave of the 4-H study of positive youth development. Journal of Early Adolescence, 25(1), 17-71. doi:10.1177/0272431604272461

Lewis, C. C., & Hurd, J. (2011). Lesson study step by step; How teacher learning communities improve instruction. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Lewis, C., Perry, R., Hurd, J., & O’Connell, M. P. (2006). Lesson study comes of age in North America. Phi Delta Kappan, 88(4), 273-281. doi:10.1177/003172170608800406

Lewis, C., Perry, R., & Murata, A. (2006). How should research contribute to instructional improvement? The case of Lesson study. Educational Researcher, 35(3), 3-14. doi:10.3102/0013189X035003003

Marble, S. T. (2006). Learning to teach through Lesson study. Action in Teacher Education, 28(3), 86-96. doi:10.1080/01626620.2006.10463422

National 4-H Council (2016). Annual Report. Chevy Chase, MD: Author.

National Assocation of Extension 4-H Agents. (n.d.). Regions. Retrieved from: https://nae4ha.com/page/Regions

Norland, E. (2005, Winter). The nuances of being “non”: Evaluating nonformal education programs and settings. New Directions for Evaluation, 108, 5-12. doi:10.1002/ev.167

Osterman, K. F. (1990). Reflective practice: A new agenda for education. Education and urban society, 22(2), 133-152. doi:10.1177/0013124590022002002

Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Penuel, W. R., Fishman, B. J., Yamaguchi, R., & Gallagher, L. P. (2007). What makes professional development effective? Strategies that foster curriculum implementation. American Educational Research Journal, 44(4), 921-958. doi:10.3102/0002831207308221

Rock, T. C., & Wilson, C. (2005). Improving teaching through Lesson study. Teacher Education Quarterly, 32(1), 77-92.

Saumure, K., & Given, L. (2008). Rigor in qualitative research. In L. Given (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods (pp. 796-797). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Scales, P. C., Benson, P. L., Leffert, N., & Blyth, D. A. (2000). Contribution of developmental assets to the prediction of thriving among adolescents. Applied Developmental Science 4(1), 27-46. doi:10.1207/S1532480XADS0401_3

Smith, M. H. (2008). Volunteer development in 4-H: Constructivist considerations to improve youth science literacy in urban areas. Journal of Extension, 46(4), Article 4IAW2. Available at: https://www.joe.org/joe/2008august/iw2.php

Smith, M. H. (2013). Findings show lesson study can be an effective model for professional development of 4-H volunteers. California Agriculture, 67(1), 54-61. doi:10.3733/ca.v067n01p54

Smith, M. H., Worker, S. M., Schmitt-McQuitty, L., Meehan, C. L., Lewis, K. M., Schoenfelder, E., & Brian, K. (2017). Prevalent approaches to professional development in state 4-H programs. Journal of Extension, 55(4), Article 4RIB2. Available at: https://joe.org/joe/2017august/rb2.php

Walker, J., & Dunham, T. (2002). Understanding youth development work. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Extension Service, College of Education, Center for 4-H Youth Development.

Wiburg, K., & Brown, S. (2007). Lesson study communities. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (2017). National 4-H Enrollment: 4-H Volunteers (2014). Washington, DC: USDA Research, Education & Economics Information System.

Yin, R.K. (2013). Case study research: Design and methods. Los Angeles: Sage.

Downloads

Published

2019-03-12

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2019)

Section

Program & Practice Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link.