Using Group Work To Enhance Problem Solving In Mathematics Classrooms

Andrea Liotta

Department of Education, Manhattan College

EDUC 376: Curriculum and Methods of Teaching MESS Grades 7-12

Sr. MaryAnn Jacobs

October 8, 2021
 Mathematics is a subject that has many predetermined assumptions made about it.

Students and teachers develop an opinion on math and it can sometimes be difficult to change.

With that being said, it is important for teachers to be able to engage their students in the

learning and make it into something that can be fun for them and engage their learning. In a

mathematics classroom, problem solving is an essential concept of learning. In the sixth edition

of his book Elementary and Middle School Mathematics - Teaching Developmentally, John A.

Van De Walle wrote a chapter on problem solving, and used the main thesis that “Most, if not

all, important mathematics concepts and procedures can best be taught through problem solving”

(Van De Walle). Throughout the chapter, Van De Walle explains the benefits of problem solving

and how teachers can apply it in their classroom in order to teach the content to their students.

Since it is known that problem solving is an essential skill in a math classroom, it then comes

down to how to promote problem solving in a way that will engage the students and help them to

retain the information. This cannot just be done any way, there needs to be a purpose behind it.

In a math classroom, it is important for the students to know that there is a reason behind them

learning the content so that they can disregard any assumptions or feelings of misconception that

they have about math. A way to help promote problem solving in a different form is to facilitate

group work amongst the students. This a variation to the students problem solving on their own

and this can have many benefits to the students learning. With problem solving, it helps the

students to actively engage in working out problems and trying to find solutions. When that is

incorporated into a group setting, it will help the students to work together to solve problems and

continue to learn. When working in groups, students “ learn to give and receive help, share their

ideas and listen to other students’ perspectives, seek new ways of clarifying differences,

resolving problems, and constructing new understandings and knowledge. The result is that
students attain higher academic outcomes and are more motivated to achieve than they would be

if they worked alone” (Gillies). Group work can also sharpen students' communication skills and

help them develop relationships with their peers. It can give them some motivation, that we

know students need more of in a mathematics classroom. Group work gets the students' minds

working in a different way. They are becoming more active in their learning. When working in

groups, students might be told to get out of their seats and go find their group, or they might need

to move to join others. Within group work, students are also talking to one another. This is not

the same thing that happens with traditional learning. Students get more involved when they are

working problems out together as opposed to sitting at their desks, which are lined up in rows,

and just copying the notes down from the board.

While groupwork can help students to better their problem solving, some students may

struggle with it. There are different reasons why students may dislike doing group work. When a

teacher can randomly assign groups, students may not be happy with the group they are assigned

to, or they could be mad that they are not with a friend. There are students that may also not feel

comfortable sharing or participating in the group because they are unsure if their answer is

correct, and they do not want to be wrong. These are some of the reasons why students may not

like doing the work in groups. From knowing this, as well as many misconceptions that come

with a math class, it is important for the teacher to create a safe and exciting learning

environment where the students are all comfortable with one another and also with sharing their

work, regardless of whether or not it is correct.

From past experiences, I have found that group work has been beneficial to my learning

in a math classroom. I did not notice a significant difference in my exam grades after working in

a group vs. not working in a group, but I did notice myself feeling stronger about the topics. As a
student in a math class, I do not want to sit there and just listen to equations and variables and

procedures and vocabulary being thrown at me. Not only do I as a student not find that

beneficial, but I also do not see that as a successful way of teaching a mathematics course. When

I think of a math class, I immediately think of problem solving and working out problems on

your own. There are times that I can do something on my own and times that I cannot. When I

am struggling on something, I find that it is beneficial to me and my learning to try and talk it out

with a classmate. When I work in a group, I am able to see different perspectives on how my

peers go about reading, analyzing, and solving problems. By seeing it done by other students, it

can help me with the way that I go about these things, and it can make me look at my problem

solving techniques in a different light. I also enjoyed my time working with a group when I knew

the teacher was engaged as well, and the teacher was walking around, listening to conversations

and available to answer any questions that we might have had. Once in a class, I had a teacher

who once the lecture was over, would sit at their desk while we worked, and so it was not a very

engaging environment and if there was something that my group mates and I could not figure

out, we were unmotivated and almost scared to go up to the teacher and ask for help.

There are constant studies that look into which ways students work and learn the best.

There are many studies that try to look into the effectiveness of problem solving in a classroom.

As previously mentioned, Van De Walle devotes a chapter to him talking about problem solving,

and he pulls from the NCTM Standards document from 1989 where it mentions how

Solving problems is not only a goal of learning mathematics but also a major
means of doing so….. Problem solving is an integral part of all mathematics learning, and
so it should not be an isolated part of the mathematics program. Problem solving in
mathematics should involve all the five content areas described in these Standards….
Good problems will integrate multiple topics and will involve significant mathematics.
(NCTM, 2000, p.52) (Van De Walle).
It is a known part of mathematics that problem solving is useful and beneficial to the students,

now it is important to look into how to integrate group work with that. To look at the effects of

group work on problem solving and grades, there have been studies conducted. These studies

work to look at the difference in student learning revolving around whether or not they are

working in groups. Throughout the journal entry, Cooperative Learning in The Secondary

Mathematics Classroom, authors Whicker, Bol, and Nunnery discuss the effects of group

learning on student achievement. There was a quasi-experiment conducted that was working to

show how cooperative learning impacts students' grades on an exam, and as a result, they saw

that “cooperative learning promotes achievement” (Whicker). More specifically, in a 7th and 8th

grade pre-algebra classroom, the study showed that cooperative learning students “not only

scored higher than the control group but retained the information for a longer period of time

(Duren & Cherrington, 1992)” (Whicker). As important as it is for a student to do well on a

singular exam, it is also important for the student to actually be memorizing and retaining the

information that they are being taught. The purpose of learning content is not for it to be lost the

second the exam is taken. A study conducted by Melroth and Deering in 18 different classrooms,

shows that “student achievement was higher in groups when there was high-quality group

interaction, that is, when students were friendly, helpful, and cooperative” (Gillies). When the

students are motivated to work, and they are comfortable with each other, that is when group

work is the best, and that is when the best results will be produced. In the research article

Structuring Cooperative Group Work in Classrooms, Robyn Gillies explores five different

studies and shows how they “demonstrate the importance of structuring small group work to

promote learning” (Gillies). Gillies develops the article around what are important aspects to

incorporate into the groupwork to make them as successful and beneficial as possible to the
students. Gillies mentions how the “benefits of small group work are enhanced when groups do

not exceed four members, groups are gender-balanced and, generally, of mixed ability,

instruction is tailored to the needs of the group, and teachers are trained to implement small

group work in their classrooms” (Gillies). A teacher needs to know how to incorporate group

work into their classrooms and when and how to implement it into their lessons. There are other

components involved when making the students work with one another, and they all play an

important role in how the students will perform and how they will learn. Group work needs to be

strategically planned so that it is actually helping the students, instead of throwing them off

track, or making the learning more difficult for them. There are constantly studies that are being

generated to show the effectiveness of using collaborative group work in a classroom setting.

Since mathematics is not taught well from just sitting through a lecture, I need to come

up with a creative way to implement the group work into my lessons. In my classroom, I can

begin the class with a short lecture of teaching the students the new material for the day,

following that I can then have the students split into groups and work on practice problems that

involve the material that they have just learned. I can predetermine the groups for my students,

and a way that I can get them to continue to be engaged in the groups is by changing the groups

frequently. I can come up with a system so that the students will all eventually work with one

another and that their groups are different so they can get a variety of experiences. A way that I

can do this is by changing the groups after every week, or even after every topic is finished. If I

do this, it will increase the relationships that my students have with one another and it will not be

the same thing over and over again, there will be a switch up which could potentially excite them

and motivate them.

 My signature pedagogy was implemented in my 15 minute and my 30 minute lesson that

I performed in class. Throughout the duration of the course, I was developing a 5 day lesson plan

for a 10th grade geometry class. I incorporated my signature pedagogy in my guided practice

portion of my lesson. For the sake of time, I had my peers just work with the person sitting next

to them. They were given a worksheet that they were told to compete with one another. They had

about 7 minutes to talk out and complete the problems. On the “Missing Angle Group

Worksheet”, there were three problems that instructed the students to solve for the angles, using

the definitions that they learned in class earlier that lesson. As the students were working, I was

walking around the room, and answering any questions they had. I was also jumping into some

conversations and asking them questions to see if they were confused on anything. While doing

this, I was able to make sure they were working together, and that they were understanding what

they were doing. Since I was walking around, I was able to help Riley when she was confused on

which of the angles were supplementary and which of the angles were equivalent in relation to

the transversal. After they finished their work, I had three students go up to the board and solve

one of the problems, showing all of their work. This was used to incorporate movement within

some of my students. We then spent time going over the work that the groups came up with.

I noticed that my signature pedagogy implementation into my 30 minute lesson was a

success. This was the same method of implementation that I used during my 15 minute mini-

lesson, and so I thought that it worked well during that time, which is why I did the same thing in

my 30 minute lesson. I found that my students were all on the right track when I was walking

around the classroom, and they all seemed to understand what they needed to do to complete the

problem. I also heard a lot of communication from all of the students, and I saw that they were

flipping back into their notes to use the definitions to solve the problems. A reason that I think I
found my lesson to be successful was that not only did I present the lesson with excitement and

enthusiasm, I also engaged the students, and at the beginning of the lesson I related the math to

real world applications. I think I set the tone the right way for my lesson, and so my peers were

more inclined to be active and have fun throughout the lesson. There is also a struggle with the

basic misconceptions of math, especially when presenting a lesson to my peers who 7 out of the

11 of them are social studies majors. Considering that I got all of them engaged, ready to learn

the content, and working together was a very big success.

The engagement and the group work should not stop there. If I want to keep my students

engaged and working together full time, it should not just be when they are solving a problem. It

should also be when we are going over the problem. I think that is where I can improve. After

the groups finished working, I had 3 different students go up to the board to write their work

down. That takes the group work and makes it very individualized. I think to change that up, I

can use all the different spaces in the room, and have each group either put up one problem, or

show their work for all 3. This is a way to continue to make all the students active in the group

work. As discussed after my lesson, I can also make the work on the board more personal. I can

have the students add their own touch to the work so that everyone knows that it is theirs. I was

giving Juniors in college 10th grade math problems, so the level of difficulty was not crazy, but I

think that I can increase the level of difficulty when it comes down to using this in an actual

classroom. If I do this, it will make the students really need to communicate with each other

more to try and figure out the problem.

Using group work to facilitate problem solving has been deemed successful in my

shortened lessons. It was an effective way to have my students complete the worksheet that I

gave them. They were using their communication skills to problem solve and work out the
problem using their notes from earlier that class. I can continue to implement this into future

lessons that I perform and use it in the future when I get my own classroom one day.

It is important to implement group work into daily math lessons as an alternate way for

students to problem solve and practice. It has better effects on the students' grades, and it lets

them communicate with one another and work together. Group work is a way that lets the

students be engaged in their learning. It deceives the mis and preconceptions that math class is

all sitting and note taking and is just boring. Group work should be used in all math classrooms

so that students can have a switch up from their normal learning. I will use group work in my

future classrooms to have my students cooperate with one another. My signature pedagogy

incorporates group work as a form of practice solving that will help students understand the

concepts better and in result, have better grades.

 References

Blatchford, P., Kutnick, P., Baines, E., & Galton, M. (2003). Toward a social pedagogy of

classroom group work. International Journal of Educational Research, 39(1-2), 153-172.

Cooper, M. M., Cox Jr, C. T., Nammouz, M., Case, E., & Stevens, R. (2008). An assessment of

the effect of collaborative groups on students' problem-solving strategies and abilities.

Journal of Chemical Education, 85(6), 866.

Gillies, R. M. (2003). Structuring cooperative group work in classrooms. International Journal

of Educational Research, 39(1-2), 35-49.

Hiebert, J., Carpenter, T. P., Fennema, E., Fuson, K., Human, P., Murray, H., ... & Wearne, D.

(1996). Problem solving as a basis for reform in curriculum and instruction: The case of

mathematics. Educational researcher, 25(4), 12-21.

Van de Walle, J. A., Karp, K. S., & Bay-Williams, J. M. (2016). Elementary and middle school

mathematics. Pearson Education UK.

Whicker, K. M., Bol, L., & Nunnery, J. A. (1997). Cooperative learning in the secondary

mathematics classroom. The Journal of Educational Research, 91(1), 42-48.