Teaching Children How to Use Language to Solve Maths Problems

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What are the implications for practitioners?

In completing this digest the author began to ask the following questions about the implications for teachers and school leaders:

For teachers:

There is significant evidence that class discussion and group work improves pupils' maths skills, but if these classes are not well organised then discussion may turn into unfocused talk on unrelated subjects. Can you think of occasions when group discussion was going well and others when pupils have gone off topic or worked in an unfocussed way? What do you think makes the difference? Would you find it helpful to work with a colleague to compare effective ways of structuring group discussion? Do you think that structuring whole class discussion may support pupils who are often overlooked?
In this study it was important to maintain focus by making it clear early on what students were required to do and how to do it. It was also important that this was reinforced over the course of several classes. How might you work over time to ensure that group work skills are as well understood by your class as they should be?
The teaching style was also important; this method didn't work so well when teachers dominated class discussion. Teachers using exploratory language and questions such as 'why do you think that', 'how did you come to that conclusion' and 'what do you think' promoted good talking and discussion skills amongst students. To what extent are your classes are organised like this? Could you organise classes so that pupils are more involved in discussion?

For school leaders

In order to develop and maintain these skills, the teachers required additional training. Evidence from the control groups made it clear that those without the right professional development were less successful in this manner. What opportunities can you see for developing teachers skills in the use of group activity? Could this feature, for example, in work with the strategies on talk for September 2008?
Much of the professional development involved collaboration between teachers. Would it help to involve some of your staff in a group effort to achieve these goals?

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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 are the implications for practitioners? In completing this digest the author began to ask the following questions about the implications for teachers and school leaders: For teachers: There is significant evidence that class discussion and group work improves pupils' maths skills, but if these classes are not well organised then discussion may turn into unfocused talk on unrelated subjects. Can you think of occasions when group discussion was going well and others when pupils have gone off topic or worked in an unfocussed way? What do you think makes the difference? Would you find it helpful to work with a colleague to compare effective ways of structuring group discussion? Do you think that structuring whole class discussion may support pupils who are often overlooked? In this study it was important to maintain focus by making it clear early on what students were required to do and how to do it. It was also important that this was reinforced over the course of several classes. How might you work over time to ensure that group work skills are as well understood by your class as they should be? The teaching style was also important; this method didn't work so well when teachers dominated class discussion. Teachers using exploratory language and questions such as 'why do you think that', 'how did you come to that conclusion' and 'what do you think' promoted good talking and discussion skills amongst students. To what extent are your classes are organised like this? Could you organise classes so that pupils are more involved in discussion? For school leaders In order to develop and maintain these skills, the teachers required additional training. Evidence from the control groups made it clear that those without the right professional development were less successful in this manner. What opportunities can you see for developing teachers skills in the use of group activity? Could this feature, for example, in work with the strategies on talk for September 2008? Much of the professional development involved collaboration between teachers. Would it help to involve some of your staff in a group effort to achieve these goals?