The role of lesson studies to foster a STEAM approach in education with textile design

Abstract

This communication presents a reseach using lesson studies to improve a STEAM (Science, Technology, Egineering, Art, Mathemathic) approach (Yakman, 2008) in education to foster textile design in compulsory schooling in the french speaking part of Switzerland. To achieve such an endeavour, we used Lesson Studies to enable teachers in training programs to develop professional gestures centered on planning, analyzing and regulation of design activities, as part of their teaching process (Didier, Perrin & Vanini, 2016). Lesson studies contribute to the change of professional posture among teachers through the identification of specific professional gestures (Lewis & Hurd, 2011). Indeed, lesson studies allow to implement a collaborative and iterative process of planning, analyzing and revising a lesson (Takahashi & McDougal, 2015). The process of lesson studies promotes a professional change for diffent reasons : on the one hand collective planning allows to deepen the comprehension of the object of learning and on the other, collective analysis pushes to articulate and internalize the theoretical frameworks explaining what is being done (Davies & Dunnill, 2008; Soto Gomez, Servan Nunez & Capparos-Vida, 2016; Didier et al., 2016). In this research, the STEAM approach was used to train textile design activities to enhance multidisciplinary learning. Design activities are defined as the ability to conceive material objects while anticipating their realization and their socialization (Bonnardel & Didier, 2020). Developing a STEAM approach in the teaching requires a change of paradigm in the education (Yakman et al., 2012). This change has to be supported by the identification of professional gestures, focused on the learning process of the pupils (Didier et al., 2016). We compared pilote classes in compulsory schooling in the french speaking part of Switzerland and observed several issues related to the STEAM approach wich have been overcame with the lesson study. The results of this study based on mixed research methodology will be presented. The results highlight the role of lesson studies in the construction of the professional gestures of teachers in order to improve a STEAM approach in the contexte of multidisciplinary learning with design textile activities.