Effective group work in math

Math is not generally thought of as a collaborative activity. A teacher gives a lesson, students ask questions, and complete assignments and tests individually. The strong movement toward group work has only really begun in the last couple years. Particularly with the Common Core, American mathematics is being pushed in a positive direction. The Khan Academy has been another important tool in assisting a change from the traditional lecture-homework style of learning. Khan Academy has even embraced the Common Core within their own program, which should help promote the standards country-wide.

I implement collaborative activities in my own classroom in the form of activities and group work. Whether it’s using “angry birds” to model parabolic motion or getting them to work together on problem sets, I’ve been incredibly impressed to see how they work together. My co-teacher taught me this great “fishbowl” activity, where students observe a group of their peers—usually three or four students—who work on a (doable) math problem. The observers are instructed to take notes not on the correctness of the math being performed but rather the group dynamics. This includes the brainstorming of approaches to solve the problem, the creation of a poster to present the problem and solution to the class, and the actual presentation itself. I believe that this helps instill self-awareness in the students. After this activity, they can think “oh, do I step back and not do much during group work?” or “do I tend to dominate a group?” It just so happened that the most recent group that we randomly selected worked together nearly perfectly. The group dynamic was textbook with equitable contributions.

Creating a good group of three in any situation does not have to mean putting a top student with an average student with a below-average student. My co-teacher and I generally do not match students based strictly on ability. I have found that often the case may be that the top student simply does all the work if only ability is considered.

A more effective way of making smaller student groups keeps in mind the personalities of the students. Pairing an outgoing and talkative top student with a shy and unconfident student will only exacerbate the shy student who might need more time to think about the problem. Taking into account factors like this is really critical to creating effective groups. While eventually group work cannot be this highly specified in a classroom setting or otherwise, at a high school level, I think this is important to consider. I have been impressed with how the students work together if not just ability but also personalities are considered.

When college rolls around for these kids, studying in groups is a critical tool to have in the toolbox. Some students may prefer it while others may not, but ample opportunity in their K-12 education gives them the chance to see through trial and error for themselves.