How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

Action Research Project

Alyssa Hogan

Michigan State University TE855

How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

Action Research Project

The issue that I wanted to investigate with my Action Research Project was the quality of

group work that my students participate in. Whenever my students encountered group work,

there would be the same results: One or two students from each group would take control while

the rest of the group sits back, awaiting their chance to copy down any work they need. The

classes I am focusing on for this project are my Algebra 2 in the Workplace classes, which are

made up of students who usually have not experienced a lot of success in a math course before;

so they are not at all confident with their mathematical skills when they come into my class.

These students just assume that they will be wrong if they try to contribute to any mathematical

conversations so they do not see the point in trying. Within this group, I also have twenty-three

students with IEPs throughout my three sections; so there is definitely a need for differentiation

of instruction in my classroom, and my hope is that finding an effective way to have my students

participate in group work will be a step in this direction.

In my readings, Kunsch, Jitendra, and Sood (2007) say, “One possible solution to

meeting the diverse needs of students in a heterogeneous mathematics classroom is the use of

peer-mediated instruction.” This idea got me looking into different types of group work that

would allow students to actually teach each other, and to work together using their combined

prior knowledge to learn new topics. Having students take an active part in their own education

would be beneficial and would avoid the common occurrence of students just being, “Passive

recipients of knowledge,” as Gillies and Boyle (2010) described. After some additional research,

I landed on the jigsaw activity idea that Slavin and Cooper (1999) and Michaelsen, Fink, and
How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

Knight (1997) discuss. Slavin and Cooper (1999) explained that this type of activity would

require students to become experts in a specific topic and are then responsible for teaching that

topic to a small group of their peers. The key is that every student in the small groups (jigsaw

groups) is an expert in a different topic, so they are solely responsible for understanding that

material because they are the mathematical authority on that topic in the group. This gives

students a sense of confidence because they are answering questions on a math topic that they

understand and are helping other students to understand as well.

Michaelsen, Fink, and Knight (1997) discuss the positive outcomes of the jigsaw activity

and how most students that participated in the jigsaw activity scored higher on the assessment

than those students that did not participate in the jigsaw activity. However, Michaelsen, Fink,

and Knight (1997) also discussed how the improvement was really just in the students “expert”

content, and not the content that they were taught by other students. Therefore, moving forward

with this jigsaw activity plan, I wanted to figure out a way to ensure that students were learning

just as much from their peers in the jigsaw groups as they would in their expert groups. One way

that I was going to attempt to combat this issue was based on a conclusion by Webb, Nemer,

Chizhik, and Sugrue (1998) that, “Working in groups with at least one above average student

was a big advantage over working in groups with only below-average students or working alone.

Working with above-average students helped below-average students to achieve greater

performance.” I used this idea to help me create the expert and jigsaw groups that students would

be working in. This idea is also supported by Fuchs et al. (1997) where they discuss the

importance of students working together to support each other’s learning.

How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

Fuchs et al. (1997) brought up the problem that I usually encounter when I have

attempted to implement group work in any of my classes; which is that, “Low-achievers

frequently will be omitted form meaningful group dynamics.” I needed to come up with a way

to, as Cohen, Lotan, Scarloss, and Arellano (1999) put it, “Ensure that all group members are

active and influential participants and that their opinions matter to the other students.” Slavin

(1996) has one of the Major Theoretical Perspectives on Cooperative Learning and Achievement

being motivational perspectives. Meaning that, a situation needs to be created where the only

way group members can achieve their own personal goals, is if the entire group is successful. I

thought that this played into the theme of the jigsaw activity pretty well, because every student

will only be an expert in part of the material and they will be reliant on their group members to

“do their job” and become experts themselves so they can be effective “teachers.” In order to

emphasize the importance of this, I decided to also incorporate explanation and participation

quizzes into this activity as described by Watanabe and Evans (2015). Adding both of these

quizzes will be able to reassure students who communicate anxiety about challenging content

and invoking “team” talk to encourage students to help one another instead of just focusing on

their own achievement (Wantanabe & Evans, 2015). These quizzes will also be an opportunity

for students to be recognized for quality group work contributions instead of just mathematical

contributions.

The jigsaw activity I enacted took place in my Algebra 2 in the Workplace classes, and

was used to teach three different methods of solving systems of equations: Substitution,

graphing, and elimination. I have attached my lesson plan in the appendix of my paper. This

activity consisted of first dividing up the students into three expert groups (one for each of the
How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

solving methods); I created these groups based somewhat on achievement level. My lower

students, mixed in with some mid-level achievers, were in the substitution group because that is

the most similar to what we have just finished learning. My middle students, mixed in with some

lower and higher achievers, and/or students who are confident in using the calculator were put in

the graphing group since that requires a lot of calculator usage. Lastly, my higher level, mixed in

with some middle achieving, students were put in the elimination group since that requires a bit

more patience and persistence to understand.

Students worked together in these groups to become experts on their assigned method,

and I enacted participation quizzes as they worked. I highlighted positive group work on the

projector for the whole class to see by writing specific quote that a student said, the student that

said it, and the group they were in. This way students could be recognized for their quality group

work instead of just mathematical contributions. I also did explanation quizzes with each expert

group to be sure that everyone was prepared to teach their method on their own. For the

explanation quizzes, I did them a little differently than described in the reading, but I really

wanted to make sure that every student knows what they are doing. I asked every student in the

expert group a question on how to solve a problem using their method; once all students in the

group had answered their question correctly, then I knew they were ready to move on to the

jigsaw groups.

The jigsaw groups had one member from each expert group, with students of diverse

ability levels. For my really low students I made sure that they had a partner of the same expert

method, which needed to happen anyway since I don’t have a perfect amount of students in each

class to have all groups of exactly three. In these groups, students took turns teaching their peers
How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

their expert method. During this group work I enacted another round of participation and

explanation quizzes. Participation quizzes were focused on recognizing “students” that asked

quality questions, and “teachers” that provided quality answers and explanations. The

explanation quizzes were at the end where I asked each student to explain to me one of the

methods that they learned (not their expert method) to ensure that all students walked away with

an understanding of all three methods.

While I was observing my students working together during this jigsaw activity, I noticed

a lot more mathematical conversations happening during this group work than I had heard in a

while. When students were working in their jigsaw groups and learning the new mathematical

concept as a group, students were having conversations about the math and the steps and

processes that were followed instead of just sharing answers. Because they were all in the same

boat, trying to learn this new method, and as a result I heard a lot of positive conversations and

learning happening. Students wanted to be sure they understood the topic, because I had made it

very apparent and kept reminding them that they would be responsible for teaching this content

to a small group of their classmates and would be the only member of the group with knowledge

of their method. I also heard some great quotes that I kept record of as part of the participation

quizzes, that really showcase how my students were working together and responding to each

other’s questions and ideas. In one of the jigsaw groups, there was one student that gained a

strong grasp of their new concept a little quicker than her group mates, so as a result many of her

group members were asking her for clarification. Here is an example of an exchange that I

witnessed:

Student 1: Wait, how did you get to that? (Pointing to an equation on Student 2’s paper)
How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

Student 2: We need to get one of the variables to cancel out, right? So, I multiplied this

second equation by -2 because then the numbers in front of the y’s would be 2 and -2 and

would cancel when you add them.

Student 1: But, why did it have to be -2?

Student 2: Well I guess, it didn’t have to be -2. You can really multiply by anything, like

the directions say, just as long as it makes something cancel.

Student 1: So I multiplied the first equation by -3 instead of what you did. That’s okay?

Student 2: Let me see (looking at Student 1’s paper). Yeah, that works, because we got

the same answer.

Student 1: Ohhhhhhhh! That makes sense. You’re so smart!

Throughout the course of the jigsaw groups, I heard a lot of revelations happening marked by

“Ohhhh!” It was also refreshing to hear questions such as, “How did you get to that?” instead of,

“What did you get for the answer?” which is usually what group work conversations had

consisted of before this activity. Having students asking the “How” and “Why” questions

showed that they were interested in understanding the process behind the correct answer. That is

what I was hoping for when I was looking for a way for students to have meaningful

mathematical conversations with each other.

In the second stage of the jigsaw activity, students were put in different groups and had to

teach their method to two of their peers. For this state, students exceeded my expectations in how

they were communicating with each other. Students really took this seriously, and were making

sure that their “students” understood what they had taught them. They were patient and answered

questions that their “students” had. Students were teaching their methods using mini
How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

whiteboards, and the “students” were taking notes and then doing three practice problems to

practice the new method that they were just taught. A majority of the mathematical conversations

and questioning that took place happened while students were working on the practice problems.

Just as in the first stage of this activity, I heard a lot of “How” and “Why” questions which again

showed that students wanted to understand the mathematical concepts and not just get the correct

answer. One exchange that I witnessed during this part of the activity involved one of my

weaker students (Student 1), who usually did not participate because he says he doesn’t

understand anything and can’t do math, when he was teaching his method to his peers. Here is

the exchange:

Student 1: Okay, so that’s substitution. Here are the practice problems that you guys do

now. (Two students that he taught begin working on practice problems)

Student 2: Wait, so how do we know what to solve for at the beginning. You solved for x

when you did it, but I’m trying to do that and I get fractions.

Student 1: Yeah, so it doesn’t always have to be x. You can really solve for whatever

variable you want. And oh yeah! That was one of my helpful hints that I forgot to tell you

guys. It is easier to solve for a variable that doesn’t have a constant out in front, that way

you don’t have to deal with fractions.

Student 2: Ohhh, okay so since in this one there is the y here that’s alone I should solve

for that?

Student 1: Yeah, and then you plug it into the other equation.

Student 3: Oh yeah, now that’s what I don’t get. How do you know where to plug it in?
How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

Student 1: It’s always the other equation that you plug it into. So, one equation you

always rearrange to get something by itself, and then the second equation is where you

plug that first one into.

Student 3: Ahhhh, okay that makes sense. Thanks!

Seeing this student have an understanding of a mathematical concept to a point where he was

able to clearly answer students’ questions and help them understand the concept and have a

mathematical conversation with each other was what I wanted my students to get out of this

jigsaw activity. When I wrote this exchange up on the projector, and recognized this students for

his great group participation, it helped him see even more that he does have valuable insight that

he can contribute to mathematical conversations.

After the jigsaw activity had concluded, I gave the same assessment that I had given the

previous year. Last year, I did not use jigsaw groups to teach this content. When looking at the

data, there was definitely a difference in the scores. Last year, with no jigsaw activity, the

average score on the assessment was a 67.22% and 44% of students left at least one of the

solving systems of equations completely blank with no attempt. This year, with the jigsaw

activity, the average score on the assessment was a 75.18% and only 11% of students left at least

one of the solving systems of equations completely blank with no attempt. This shows an

improvement in the overall score, and the overall achievement of students with solving systems

of equations; and it shows that most of the students were confident enough to at least attempt

every solving systems of equation problems. This is something that I always try to encourage my

students to do: Just try.

How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

Throughout this action research project, I learned a lot about how to incorporate effective

group work, specifically jigsaw activities and participation/explanation quizzes, in my

classroom. When I was watching my students interact with each other during this activity, I was

amazed by the quality of conversations they were having about mathematics, just by transferring

the mathematical authority position from myself to the students. Students realized that they were

responsible for the education of other students, and took that role seriously and were asking

questions based in conceptual understanding instead of just procedural understanding. Something

that I learned throughout my educational career is that nothing brings people closer together than

struggling together through a tough class. Throughout this jigsaw activity, students were all

seeing new material for the first time and were learning it together instead of just listening to me

lecture the material at them. Since all of the students were starting off at the same point, they

were able to work together in a way that made them aware of all their group members’ progress,

so no one was left behind. I was really happy with how this activity panned out, and I will

definitely be using it again next year,. I will try to incorporate more jigsaw activities, explanation

quizzes, and participation quizzes in my lessons throughout the year as well.

How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

Reference List

Cohen, E. G., Lotan, R. A., Scarloss, B. A., & Arellano, A. R. (1999). Complex instruction:

Equity in cooperative learning classrooms. ​Theory Into Practice,38(​ 2), 80-86.

doi:10.1080/00405849909543836

Fuchs, L., Fuchs, D., Hamlett, C., Phillips, N., Karns, K., & Dutka, S. (1997). Enhancing

Students' Helping Behavior during Peer-Mediated Instruction with Conceptual

Mathematical Explanations. ​The Elementary School Journal,​ ​97​(3), 223-249. Retrieved

from http://www.jstor.org.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/stable/1002198

Gillies, R. M., & Boyle, M. (2010). Teachers reflections on cooperative learning: Issues of

implementation. ​Teaching and Teacher Education,26(​ 4), 933-940.

doi:10.1016/j.tate.2009.10.034

Kunsch, C. A., Jitendra, A. K. and Sood, S. (2007), The Effects of Peer-Mediated Instruction in

Mathematics for Students with Learning Problems: A Research Synthesis. Learning

Disabilities Research & Practice, 22: 1-12. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5826.2007.00226.x

Maika Watanabe, & Laura Evans. (2015). Assessments That Promote Collaborative Learning.

The Mathematics Teacher,109​(4), 298-304. doi:10.5951/mathteacher.109.4.0298

How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

Michaelsen, L. K., Fink, L. D. and Knight, A. (1997), Designing Effective Group Activities:

Lessons for Classroom Teaching and Faculty Development. To Improve the Academy,

16: 373-397. doi:10.1002/j.2334-4822.1997.tb00335.x

Slavin, R. E. (1996). Research on Cooperative Learning and Achievement: What We Know,

What We Need to Know. ​Contemporary Educational Psychology,21​(1), 43-69.

doi:10.1006/ceps.1996.0004

​Slavin, R. e. and Cooper, R. (1999), Improving Intergroup Relations: Lessons Learned From

Cooperative Learning Programs. Journal of Social Issues, 55: 647-663.

doi:10.1111/0022-4537.00140

Webb, N., Nemer, K., Chizhik, A., & Sugrue, B. (1998). Equity Issues in Collaborative Group

Assessment: Group Composition and Performance. ​American Educational Research

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http://www.jstor.org.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/stable/1163461
How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom

Appendix:
How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom
How to Incorporate Effective Group Work Strategies in the Math Classroom