Makoto Yoshida
In Japan, carefully planned and well-organized blackboard use during a lesson is considered one of the most important teaching skills that fosters student understanding. In this paper, Makoto Yoshida, an expert in lesson study and Japanese teaching practices, describes how Japanese teachers develop effective use of the blackboard. He explains a typical lesson process in Japan and how the use of the blackboard fits into that process. Yoshida describes six important functions of blackboard use in Japan: (1) keeping a record of the lesson, (2) helping students remember what they need to do and think about, (3) helping students see the connection between different parts of the lesson and the progression of the lesson, (4) contrasting and discussing ideas students present, (5) helping to organize student thinking and discover new ideas, and (6) fostering organized student note taking skills by modeling logical organization.
In Japan, carefully planned and well-organized blackboard use during a lesson is considered one of the most important teaching skills that fosters student understanding of the topic they learn during a lesson. Japanese teachers generally believe that well-organized and coherently presented blackboard writing helps students see the progress of the lesson as well as how the class discussed the various solutions and how the class as a whole reached the conclusion of the lesson. In addition, it is said that a well-organized blackboard helps students organize their thinking and learn to organize their notes (Yanase 1990). For these reasons, Japanese teachers often discuss how they use or organize the blackboard when they develop a research lesson through lesson study.
When we teach a lesson, how often do we think carefully about how we organize the blackboard so students can organize their thoughts, see the connections, understand the material being studied, and organize their notes better? Professional development models that provide collaborative discussion based on observation of actual teaching in classrooms, such as lesson study, can help teachers think about this type of detailed teaching practice that enhances student thinking and understanding.
Before I describe how Japanese teachers use or organize the blackboard, I would like to share some interesting research related to the topic of blackboard use. The 1995 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) Videotape Classroom Study (Stigler, et al., 1999) investigated the percentage of use of the chalkboard versus overhead projector in classrooms in three countries: the United States, Germany, and Japan (See Figure 1).
Figure 1: Percentage of lessons in which chalkboard and overhead projector are used. (Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Videotape Classroom Study, 1994-95.)
According to the study, Japanese teachers use the chalkboard all the time and rarely use an overhead projector in the classroom. On the other hand, American teachers use the chalkboard and the overhead projector almost equally. As can be seen in the graph below, TIMSS also reported that Japanese teachers tend to keep what they write on the blackboard until the end of the lesson (See Figure 2). In the case of American classrooms, over half of what is written on the blackboard is erased by the end of the lesson.
Figure 2: Percentage of tasks, situations, and PPDs (principals/properties/definitions) written on the chalkboard that were erased or remained on the chalkboard at the end of the lesson. (Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Videotape Classroom Study, 1994-95.)
What do these graphs tell us? Why are there differences in the way the two groups of teachers use the blackboard? The researchers who conducted the Videotape Classroom Study, Stigler and Hiebert (1999), talk about it in their book entitled The Teaching Gap. First of all, they conclude that the typical use of an overhead projector and blackboard differs between the U.S. and Japan. In the U.S., the blackboard or overhead projector is used for one of the following: 1) to focus students’ attention and 2) to display information in written or graphic form. In Japan, however, teachers use the blackboard to provide a record of the problems, solution methods, and principles that are discussed during the lesson.
I (Yoshida 1999) report similar characteristics of Japanese teachers’ use of blackboard in the classroom in my ethnographical research on lesson study in Japan entitled Lesson Study: A Case Study of a Japanese Approach to Improving Instruction Through School-Based Teacher Development. I describe that the “Japanese teachers rarely erase what they write on the blackboard. Everything they choose to record has a meaning and purpose, as it has been carefully planned in advance.” In addition, I record an interview with a teacher who talked about what she was told by senior teachers about use of the blackboard. This teacher told me that “my senior teachers told me ‘you should not erase what you write if you write on the blackboard and you should not write on the board if you are going to erase it.” Another teacher said, “I try to organize the blackboard in such a way that my students and I can see and understand how the lesson progressed, what was talked about during the lesson and at the end of the lesson.”
Stigler and Hiebert (1999) talk about the importance of the connectedness of mathematics across the lesson and how vital it is in helping students develop a clear understanding of the topic taught in the lesson. They call this “lesson coherence.” They liken a coherent lesson to a well-formed story that helps students make sense of what is going on in the lesson. A well-formed story, according to Stigler and Hiebert, is a sequence of events that fit together to reach the final conclusion, making it easier to comprehend than a disjointed story.
Becker, et al. (1990) and Stevenson and Stigler (1992) also write about the lesson processes that Japanese teachers follow during mathematics lessons. About half of the open-ended Japanese lessons start with the teacher posing a rich problem, followed by the students struggling with the problem on their own. Next, the students typically present their ideas for solutions and discuss them. Finally the teacher concludes the lesson. This lesson process pattern is also reflected in the lesson plan that the Japanese teachers develop during lesson study.
The open-ended lesson process follows this sequence:
When Japanese teachers follow this process and plan a lesson, they spend a lot of time thinking about:
What teachers focus on when planning a lesson is also reflected in the way they use the blackboard to enhance student understanding. Blackboard planning is called Bansho-keikaku in Japanese. Japanese teachers strongly believe that a well-organized lesson plan and blackboard plan lead to a well-constructed and focused lesson, which in turn helps student understanding.
Following are an example of blackboard planning and an actual picture of a blackboard from a Japanese lesson that I observed. In this lesson, five teachers from the first and second grades in Hiroshima, Japan collaboratively planned a lesson on simple subtraction that involves regrouping. Figure 3 is the blackboard plan that was created along with the lesson plan. Figure 4 is a picture that was taken during the actual lesson. Although the teacher digressed from the blackboard plan slightly during the actual lesson, the general plan detailed in the blackboard plan was used during the lesson. When the lesson was completed, the blackboard provided a visual summary of the concepts learned during the lesson.
Figure 3: Blackboard plan the teacher discussed before implementing a research lesson.
Figure 4: A snapshot of the blackboard from an actual lesson.
It is clear from the description above that Japanese teachers think about and use the blackboard very differently than their American counterparts. It is important to examine closely how Japanese teachers use the blackboard during their lessons. Following are six important functions of blackboard use in Japan.
As TIMSS research indicated (Stigler, et al., 1999) the blackboard is used for keeping a record of the lesson. These would be the actual story problem the class worked on during the lesson; the main questions that provoked student thinking; student voices, opinions, and things noticed; various solutions determined by the students; questions and decisions resulting from student discussions; and important mathematical ideas generated by discussions. Keeping a record of the lesson is very useful when the teacher wants to refer to something that happened or was discussed earlier in the lesson. By looking at the blackboard during and after the lesson, students can gain a lot of information, which will go a long way to help them make sense of what they are learning.
Keeping the story problem, directions, tasks, and questions on the blackboard provides a place for students to check what they are supposed to do. If students forget what to do or what to answer while they are engaged in the learning activity, they can simply look at the blackboard to obtain necessary information to get back on track. Students can also refer each other to what is on the blackboard to help each other.
A well-organized blackboard documents coherence of the lesson. At the end of the lesson, it shows a coherent flow of the lesson, which in turn helps students to see the logical connections among all parts of the lesson. It also shows how the lesson progressed, how student ideas were incorporated into the lesson, and how the conclusion of the lesson was reached.
Since various student ideas are presented on the blackboard during Japanese mathematics lessons, it becomes a place for students to discuss the presented ideas. The presented ideas are discussed and the similarities and differences in ideas are determined. In addition, the merits of using a certain method to solve the problems are also discussed. Through those discussions, the students might develop new ideas or questions they want to investigate. I call this type of blackboard use a “collective think-pad” because a whole class discussion is carried out based on the ideas presented on the blackboard.
The blackboard can also be used for manipulating presented materials to help organize student thinking and discover new ideas. I also call this type of use a “collective think-pad.” For example, sorting, lining up, categorizing, and moving directions can be helpful for students to think about, discover, and discuss new ideas. Teachers can facilitate the discussion and help them think about important mathematical ideas. Such use of the blackboard, combined with the discussion on the similarity and differences of the presented students’ ideas, is critical for Japanese teachers to skillfully carry out child-centered or discovery-oriented lessons.
The way teachers organize the blackboard can also be a model for students to take notes during the lesson. Students do not intuitively have good note taking skills, so having a good example to learn from is very important. In this way students can see what is considered good note taking.
In the age of integration of technology in the classroom, many people may think that the blackboard is an old-fashioned instructional tool that has no impact on student learning. However, the innovative use of the blackboard, as is common in Japan, can have a profound effect on student learning in the classroom. Moreover, professional development methods like lesson study can provide important opportunities for teachers to explore new and effective ways to use the blackboard to enhance student thinking and understanding.
Becker, J. P., Silver, E. A., Kantowski, M. G., Travers, K. J., & Wilson, J. W. (1990). Some Observations of Mathematics Teaching in Japanese Elementary and Junior High Schools. Arithmetic Teacher, 38, 12–21.
Stevenson, H. W., & Stigler, J. W. (1992). The Learning Gap: Why Our Schools Are Failing and What We Can Learn From Japanese and Chinese Education. New York, NY: Summit Books.
Stigler, J.W., Gonzales, P.A., Kawanka, T., Knoll, S., & Serrano S. (1999). The TIMSS Videotape Classroom Study: Methods and Findings from an Exploratory Research Project on Eighth-Grade Mathematics Instruction in Germany, Japan, and the United States. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
Stigler, J. W., & Hiebert, J. (1999). The Teaching Gap: Best Ideas from the World’s Teachers for Improving Education in the Classroom. New York, NY: The Free Press.
Yanase, O. (1990). Sansu—Tanoshii Bansho no Giho [Mathematics—Techniques for Enjoyable Blackboard Use]. Tokyo: Nihonshoseki.
Yoshida, M. (1999). Lesson Study: A Case Study of a Japanese Approach to Improving Instruction Through School-Based Teacher Development. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Chicago.
This paper was originally published online in August 2003.
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