Examining the Use of Lesson Analysis to Improve Teacher Candidates’ Knowledge of Teaching

One of the goals of this research is to investigate how lesson analysis activities for the School Experience course supported the development of teacher candidates’ knowledge of teaching. The second goal of this research is to reveal how applications involving lesson analysis reflected on the teacher candidates’ teaching practices. Designed as qualitative research, the study was conducted with elementary mathematics teacher candidates. The data collection tools were the candidates’ lesson analysis reports and end-of-term assessment reports, video recordings of the candidates’ teaching practices, classroom observation, field notes, and interviews conducted with the candidates. The data were analyzed by means of content analysis method. The study concluded that the lesson analysis activities supported the creation of a consciousness that teacher candidates should consider a lesson in mathematics teaching from the point of view of the student. Besides, it was observed that the candidates started noticing when the learners understood easily, or had difficulty, and to what should pay attention when teaching. Suggestions have been made to make the School Experience course more effective in the teacher training process