Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.

On this week's programme I am joined by Professor Akihiko Takahashi from the College of Education at De Paul University who talks about the teaching of mathematics, about Lesson Study as a form of professional development for teachers and other matters. I spoke with Professor Takahashi after he addressed an event hosted by the UCD Japan Group. Among the items we discussed were the following:

• Why learn mathematics?
• How do children learn to solve problems?
• What is lesson study?
• Why in Japan lunch is considered to be an opportunity for teaching
• How lesson study helps teachers to grow
• Why collaboration is the foundation to being an effective teacher
• Why live classroom observation is better than observing teaching on video
• How the Japanese learn from other cultures
• Are teachers born or made?