Teaching Children How to Use Language to Solve Maths Problems

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What did the researchers discover about teaching and maths?

The researchers used 'thinking together' lessons to explore whether this approach would enhance pupils' abilities in maths and science. Their study showed that the methods used led to an increase of 44% in standard SAT test results compared with 26% in a control group. There were also improvements in the quality of class discussion and of small group work, with more active inclusion of all pupils involved.

The researchers also found that improving the quality of pupils' use of language for reasoning together improved their individual learning and understanding of mathematics. Their research showed that the teacher was an important model and guide for pupil's use of language and reasoning. When teachers provided children with an explicit, practical introduction to the use of language for collective reasoning, the children learnt better ways of thinking collectively and better ways of thinking alone.

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction What did the researchers discover about teaching and maths? What did the thinking together lessons involve? What teaching methods worked well? How was the study designed? What are the implications for practitioners? Where can I find out more? Send us your feedback Collated digests To view/remove/add notes and save your collated digests click here Get Word Reader Teaching Children How to Use Language to Solve Maths Problems This digest found in Mathematics Send to a friend Printer friendly Collate for later What did the researchers discover about teaching and maths? The researchers used 'thinking together' lessons to explore whether this approach would enhance pupils' abilities in maths and science. Their study showed that the methods used led to an increase of 44% in standard SAT test results compared with 26% in a control group. There were also improvements in the quality of class discussion and of small group work, with more active inclusion of all pupils involved. The researchers also found that improving the quality of pupils' use of language for reasoning together improved their individual learning and understanding of mathematics. Their research showed that the teacher was an important model and guide for pupil's use of language and reasoning. When teachers provided children with an explicit, practical introduction to the use of language for collective reasoning, the children learnt better ways of thinking collectively and better ways of thinking alone.