Japanese and American teachers' evaluations of mathematics lessons: A new technique for exploring beliefs

In our study, we use a novel technique to explore the beliefs of Japanese and American elementary school teachers. Four American and four Japanese teachers watched a mathematics lesson—videotaped in either Nagano, Japan or Chicago, Illinois—and commented on the lesson's strengths and weaknesses. The major pedagogical issues that differentiated the teachers' comments were: what students should do during a lesson, how instructors should use language, how instructors should pace lessons and address ability differences, and how instructional materials should be used. The specific beliefs of the American and Japanese teachers in this study mapped easily onto common instructional practices in elementary school mathematics classes in the United States and Japan. We conclude that, at least for the teachers in this sample, beliefs are linked to practices and they may help to tie teachers to their culturally preferred method of mathematics instruction.