This dissertation is about developing our knowledge of teaching and student learning through examining teaching that has been designed and implemented with in a learning study. Applying an interdisciplinary approach, this research builds knowledge of how teaching can be designed and implemented for young students with different prior knowledge of mathematics. The focus is on inclusive education and, in particular, on inclusive learning environments. Teaching and learning about whole numbers for students in grades 2 and 3 were studied.The empirical material, mainly comprising videotaped lessons and the results of identical knowledge tests that the students completed before and after the lessons, was collected in a learning study and used in two steps. First, the teaching characteristics were analysed at a collective level, mainly based on test results used to measure learning outcomes, i.e.,students’ ability to expand their number range from natural to whole numbers. The extent to which the teaching characteristics were transferable to new teaching contexts was also investigated. Second, an interdisciplinary approach was followed, applying knowledge and theories from special needs education and mathematics education. Examining teaching characteristics in relation to outcomes, the research perspective expanded from the collective to the individual level, emphasizing participation and learning among students with different prior knowledge according to test results. Notably, at a collective level, teaching was characterized by being based on the identification of critical aspects. Analyses of teaching outcomes at the individual level revealed a mixed picture of student learning and participation in the learning study lessons. Concerning one studied lesson, an analysis of student test results revealed considerable diversity in student achievement, indicating that some students learned what was intended while others did not. However, test results from another lesson indicated that all students progressed in learning about whole numbers. During this lesson, the teacher-guided mathematical discourse incorporating several routines seemed to be central to facilitating student participation as well as change in the discourse on whole numbers.The main conclusion is that the interdisciplinary research approach helped foster deeper insight into teaching design and its outcomes regarding individual students’ learning and participation. In addition, the findings emphasize the importance of teachers taking responsibility for inviting the students into the mathematical discourse in relation to the access aspect of participation, and then, through challenging questions, facilitating progress to the collaborative aspect of participation. 

Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate achievement profiles in mathematics when integers are taught in a learning study in grade three (to children 8–9 years old) and to explore to what extent students with such profiles participate in inclusive teaching and learning practices. Design/methodology/approach: Data from a previous learning study are re-analysed, supported by a framework that enables the investigation of inclusive practices. In the present study, inclusion and achievement are viewed as interrelated, meaning that student achievement must be incorporated in the definition of inclusion. The analysis is based on documentation of a video-recorded lesson and on identical tests conducted before and after the lesson. Findings: The general framing of the learning study indicates an inclusive practice, while pre- and post-test achievement together with data from the lesson reveal a mixed picture concerning student achievement and inclusion. The analysis of the pre- and post-test results for the 16 students in the class indicates considerable diversity in student achievement, resulting in four achievement profiles. The main conclusion is that some students gained from participating in the learning study lesson while others did not. The extensive analysis of four students' participation, one for each profile, shows that differences in student achievement are related to the extent to which students participate in inclusive teaching and learning practices. Originality/value: While previous research on learning studies has mainly considered average student achievement, this study focuses on individual variation in achievement and the reasons for it, a matter largely neglected in previous learning study research.

The aim of the paper is to demonstrate how a theory-informed lesson study can be a form of practice-based research where knowledge is generated within the process of teachers’ actions. Learning study shares features with lesson study, such as the iterative design, the teacher driven approach and with attention to student learning, but is guided by a theoretical framework. The dominant theory has been variation theory. In learning study, the focus is the object of learning and what must be learned to make the object of learning one’s own. A learning study about learning and teaching negative numbers to young pupils (age 8-9) in a Swedish context is used as an example. Our proposal is in resonance with Morris’ and Hiebert’s (2011) suggestion that lesson study is a system that can generate instructional products that are sharable and open for improvement by other actors. The ‘instructional product’ from learning study is a theoretical description of the object of learning, how it is constituted and can be taught. In the learning study reported, three teachers worked in collaboration to identify the critical aspects for realizing the existence of negative numbers. The critical aspects emerged and were successively specified in the process and as a result of a thorough analysis of data on pupils’ learning and the lessons.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present how experiences gained from a theory-informed lesson study – learning study (LrS) – in regard to a specific learning goal can be shared and used by other teachers in new contexts.

Design/methodology/approach – A group of teachers worked together in a cyclic, iterative process of planning, evaluating and revising teaching. The aim was to provide possibilities for grade 2 and 3 students to become familiar with negative numbers. The teacher group came to the conclusion that the students needed to be able to differentiate some aspects of negative numbers. The conjecture was put to the test in a follow-up study(FS) with five new teachers and eight classes. One lesson was taught based on the empirical findings in the LrS.

Findings – The results suggest that teachers’ collaborative work has possibilities to produce knowledge about critical aspects of learning that can be communicated and adopted in new contexts. The teachers in the FS were able to make sense of the results from LrS and incorporate the critical aspects in their teaching in away that enhanced students’ learning.

Originality/value – It is demonstrated that teacher collaboration in LrS can create knowledge that goes beyond the border of the local context