Georgia Educational Research Association: Relationship between Student Collaboration Practices and Quality of Enacted Curriculum

• In Event: The Consortium of State and Regional Educational Research Associations Distinguished Papers Session 3

Abstract

This study examined collaboration practices of 97 Grade 5 students in 34 small groups and quality of mathematical discourse with 26 tasks designed at four DOK levels of cognitive demand. Students worked individually on one task-set with 13 tasks, followed by a small collaborative group reflective discourse of solutions and strategies; the same groups worked together collaboratively on a second task-set with 13 tasks, engaging in joint exploratory discourse of solutions and strategies. Results identified six student-directed collaboration practices aligned with quality of enacted curriculum across tasks. Collaboration practices encouraging communication were more likely to result in high quality enacted curriculum. Practices limiting student communication or focusing on getting done quickly were more likely to result in low-quality enacted curriculum.

Author

• Kristy Litster, Valdosta State University