Didactic Design Research Through Lesson Study Activities: STEM-Based Courses for Representative Abilities of Prospective Mathematics Teachers

Many studies have examined representational abilities, but few have explored the use of lesson study activities based on didactical design research, which integrated STEM to solve problems in higher education. This research aimed to develop a STEM-based blended lecture design that optimized the representation abilities of prospective mathematics teachers. Conducted as didactical design research, the study employed lesson study activities. Participants included 29 prospective mathematics teachers (aged 18–21 years, 22 women and 7 men) at a private university in Mataram, Indonesia. The primary tool was the researcher, with biodata questionnaires, performance tasks, observation sheets, blended lecture designs, and video recordings serving as supplements. Qualitative data analysis was applied to scrutinize the gathered data. The results of the study revealed that the initial representation ability of mathematics was quite low, so a STEM-based blended lecture design was created to optimize students’ representation abilities. Ultimately, the implementation of the design was able to optimize students’ representation abilities. This occurred because the design facilitated students in using STEM to solve problems by exploring ideas. The research recommended that lectures should integrate STEM to optimize the representational abilities of prospective teachers.