With meticulous attention to detail and a commitment to excellence, Bansho creates an opportunity for better learning.
Bansho is more than just writing on a board; it is a deliberate and skilful approach to enhancing student learning by intentionally using board space. Teachers invest in planning for effective board use as a crucial aspect of their professional development, which involves considering the lesson content and the resources at hand and anticipating likely student responses. Essentially, it is a highly specialised skill that aims to create rich learning opportunities for students.
The blackboard is nothing more than an opaque board, but it can become a clear window into the world. Bansho not only serves as a means of visual communication; it has the potential to manifest as one possible world on its surface, representing the symbolic living and learning space and becoming a medium through which teachers and children explore the objective world.
(Hatta, 1971)
Bansho is a Japanese teaching method that involves the use of a board (chalkboard, whiteboard, electronic board…). Its translation to English is “use or organization of blackboard” or “board writing” (Yoshida, 2002).
In the classroom, the board displays learning tasks and goals, explains thinking processes and working methods involved in learning tasks, and elaborates on the learning content (Dictionary of School Education, 2014).
For this intentional and effective use of the board (Kuehnert et al., 2018) to happen during a lesson, bansho keikaku (boardwork planning) is central as it is part of lesson planning. It includes considering the lesson content, resources used, and anticipated student responses (Tan et al., 2018).
The real product of bansho is not merely an aesthetically pleasant board; it should reflect the lesson flow and process of collaborative work between the teacher, students and resources. As long as learning and the search for intellectual paths continue in the classroom, bansho should evolve alongside them, like an unfinished kinetic art.
Why Bansho?
Long-term learning impact on students
Bansho transforms the learning experience by encouraging active visualisation and exploration of various strategies.
Contrary to the conventional notion that the board serves as a medium for rote teaching methods, such as chalk and talk, where students are expected to passively copy and memorise content, bansho transforms the learning experience by encouraging active visualisation and exploration of various strategies. In numerous studies, bansho has been shown to develop not just a strategy for problem-solving but a deeper level of thinking through the process (e.g., Baldry, 2021; BIllman, 2018, Greiffenhagen, 2014; Tan, 2022). Instead of providing the correct answer, teachers employ the board to pull together all the different approaches and ideas presented by students, to make pupils see the connection (Takahashi, 2006). Coles (2022) emphasises the importance of unfolding the learning process step-by-step on the board, as opposed to presenting it in a complete form, such as on a PowerPoint slide, conveying that the content is meant to be understood rather than memorised. Moreover, studies reveal that observing bansho writing processes enables learners to engage in an “information push” mechanism, facilitating the comparison of key points and enhancing comprehension of the flow of ideas (Okazaki et al., 2014).
Students’ increased engagement and participation
The visual nature of bansho facilitates students’ engagement in different ways.
Firstly, speech information is transformed into text information, from teachers’ or pupils’ spoken utterances to writings on the board. The move of transforming audio into visual forms allows ideas that “used to build up in the air” (Lewis, 2014) to be preserved in a tangible space, the board. Ideas sustained on a common artefact allow students to revisit earlier discussions and to follow along easily. Secondly, ideas on the board can be connected using highlighters such as arrows, circles and lines. The connection can be made by teachers without interrupting the flow of discussion.
Promoting students’ sense of ownership in learning
The action of recording students’ ideas on the board is a revoicing move (O’Connor & Michaels, 1993) where teachers are giving a bigger voice to students’ contributions.
The action of recording students’ ideas on the board is a revoicing move (O’Connor & Michaels, 1993) where teachers are giving a bigger voice to students’ contributions. Specifically, when a student presents his/her ideas, which are originally directed at the teacher and chosen to be written by the teacher on the board, it is now relayed back to the entire classroom community. This action communicates to the entire classroom community that each student’s thoughts are valuable and worthy of acknowledgement. The use of a nameplate also serves the function of visualising students’ standpoints and allows them to claim ownership of their ideas. Students feel that their contributions are listened to and valued when they see their ideas being represented on the chalkboard along with their names.
Teacher’s Continuous Professional Development
Bansho is esteemed as a specialised skill and knowledge set among educators in Japan, playing a pivotal role in lesson study— a collaboration-based and teacher-driven approach to continuous professional development.
Delving into bansho requires intentional planning, where teachers must comprehend the teaching material and lesson content and anticipate student responses. In essence, organising bansho beforehand (bansho keikaku) involves continuous decision-making, discerning “what to keep and what to toss” on the board. This reflective practice cultivates teachers’ awareness of their teaching methods, fostering an ongoing refinement of instructional strategies. Bansho also serves as a tool for both individual self-reflection and collaborative improvement. Teachers meticulously maintain bansho records, acting as a journal for reflecting on instructional practices, revisiting lessons, and identifying areas for enhancement. Beyond individual reflection, sharing bansho records (e.g. BANSHOT application) creates opportunities for constructive feedback and collaborative learning among colleagues, fostering a culture of continuous improvement in teaching practices.
Blackboard to Bansho
Foreign
Use of blackboard in France, Great Britain, USA
Japan
Introduction of blackboard in Japan
Development
Blackboard developed into bansho
Today
Influence of bansho
Latest Research Works
Explore comprehensive bansho research in our dedicated ‘Research’ section, featuring the latest studies, insights, and findings on board writing in educational contexts around the world.
Best Teaching Practices
Discover effective strategies, insights, success stories and challenges from practitioners showcasing their bansho practices across subjects.
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Contact
Shirley Tan: s.tan@windesheim.nl
Stéphane Clivaz: stephane.clivaz@hepl.ch
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