Rural science teachers hold valuable local expertise, but geographic and professional isolation can limit their growth and the quality of their science teaching. Because they are often the only science teacher in a school or district, many have few chances to collaborate with peers who teach the same subject, a gap that makes it harder to meet current science standards.

This WestEd brief introduces technology-mediated lesson study (TMLS), a teacher-led professional learning model that helps rural science teachers collaborate across distance using video, online meetings, and shared workspaces. It walks through a simple five-step process for codesigning, teaching, recording, reviewing, and revising a lesson; outlines the modest tools and costs involved; and shares lessons learned about what makes the model work. It shows administrators, professional learning designers, and district science specialists how TMLS can create self-sustaining collaboration, strengthen science teaching, build networks across geographic boundaries, and grow teachers’ local leadership.