“Are we jumping into a gap?” A study of the interplay between theoretical input and practical knowledge during noticing as reasoning of a lesson study team in initial teacher education

Using sociocultural discourse analysis, we examined when and how a Lesson Study team in initial teacher education integrated theoretical input with practical knowledge when reasoning about subject-specific learning by and teaching of their pupils. We found 10 reasoning sequences in which theoretical input helped student teachers externalize their practical knowledge and reflect on the relation between practical knowledge and theoretical input. Three times this process resulted in new understanding of subject-specific pedagogy. Our findings support the assumption that Lesson Study is an appropriate learning task to help student teachers relate theory to practice and develop their subject-specific pedagogical insights.