A college lesson study in calculus, preliminary report

Lesson Study is a process by which a team of instructors works collaboratively to plan, teach, observe and revise one particular lesson. A successful lesson study will not only result in a student-focused lesson plan that maximizes student understanding, but will also encourage teaching-centered collaboration among colleagues and increase the participants’ understanding of student learning. A group of four instructors from the University of Wisconsin-Stout participated in a lesson study for Rolle's Theorem and the Mean Value Theorem beginning in the spring of 2007. This article summarizes the process of lesson study, the lesson itself, observations from the first round of teaching and possible revisions to the lesson. Included as an appendix are all of the materials of the preliminary lesson plan, as well as materials for the lesson study itself.