ABSTRACT
Our experience and research have shown that LS supports pre-service teachers’ professional development by making them more aware of the relationship between their teaching and pupils’ learning. However, we found that observations and reflections made during the research lessons tended to be superficial, thereby limiting the learning potential of engaging in LS. As teacher educators, we have been trying to strengthen the learning potential of the LS cycle by offering additional support to our pre-service teachers. The concept of noticing and a framework of noticing has guided our work. Two cases are presented in this chapter, one from PE and one from EFL, which illustrate the tools we have introduced that we hope will scaffold the development of pre-service teachers’ professional noticing when they undertake LS. The PE case introduces the use of a kyouzai kenkyuu record sheet. The EFL case illustrates how prompts can be used throughout the LS cycle to encourage the students to dig deeper into their experiences and data. The chapter concludes with reflections on the use of these tools and suggestions for future practices to strengthen the use of LS in teacher education.
