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Hertfordshire mathematics research project 2011-12: Engaging and Motivating Pupils in Primary Mathematics

Teacher’s name: Kim Kerr-Barr

School: Purwell Primary School

Research project question / focus How does working collaboratively engage and motivate pupils? Abstract The Aims were:- • To determine the factors why children can be disengaged and de-motivated with mathematics. • To determine whether working collaboratively affects a pupil’s engagement and motivation with

mathematics. • To determine the incidence of motivation and engagement by a sample group of pupils during

the course of collaborative mathematics lessons. Outcomes During this research it was observed that children did engage more and appeared motivated when working on collaborative math’s activities however these factors had a contributing effect to the levels of success.

• Working in mixed ability friendship pairs improved motivation and success often resulting in less able pupil’s mathematical knowledge and skills being improved by their more able peer teaching new methods and strategies.

• Working with more able pupils resulted in them taking the lead which harnessed the progress for less able pupils but may have increased the more able pupil’s ability to explain and reason.

• Working collaboratively in similar ability pairs resulted in ‘real collaborative working’ where children were observed taking equally turns and achieving success during most activities.

• Working collaboratively in mixed and same ability groups resulted in motivated working but also created more social divides where children had to build relationships rather than truly collaborate with each other during most activities.

• A classroom culture with an ethos of working collaboratively allowed the pupils to interact socially from the on start of the project.

• Successful motivated learners were observed when a teacher adopts strategies to ensure the children worked without adult support and collaborated with each other.

Introduction and project focus Purwell is smaller than most other primary schools. The large majority of pupils are from families of White British heritage. Other pupils come from a wide range of minority ethnic backgrounds. The percentage of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities, including those with a statement of special educational needs, is above average and in some year groups as high as 44%. The range of special educational needs includes speech, language and communication, and behavioural, emotional and social needs. The research project was carried out in a class of 25 pupils (22 year 6 and 3 year 5) There are 14 girls and 11 boys and their mathematical abilities range from national curriculum levels 2A to 6C with one very able Gifted and talented male student who is educated to ‘A’ level math’s standard. The schools development plan has a focus on developing calculation methods within numeracy across the whole school. The school is also part of a school partnership group looking at the use of Guy Claxton’s ‘Building Learning Power’ which focuses on developing pupils into independent resourceful learners - It was because of these factors that the math’s research project and identified question for investigation was decided upon. Although all children within the class were subject to the research project, evidence was collected from a target group of children and observations and formative assessments were carried our during the spring term 2011/12. The children were also chosen as they were identified as reluctant mathematicians, lower achievers or additionally displayed evidence of low self esteem during math’s

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activities, although not the purpose of the research it was hoped that working collaboratively would not only engage pupils but also help contribute to raising attainment and converting national Level 3’s to Level 4 and Level 5 respectively. The target group consisted of 3 boys and 5 girls (Consisting of 1 Afro Caribbean male, 5 White British females and 2 White British summer born male pupils.) Review Hertz-Lanzarowitz, Kirkus and Miller (1995) identify that the level of pupil ability has an important influence on a child’s role when working in a group situation. With working with pupils of a similar ability it is identified that they can collaborate and cooperating effectively. In comparison to a less able pupil working with a more able peer where one student is clearly more knowledgeable than the other and therefore a tutorial relationship occurs. Herts et al (1995) also believe that children do better working collaboratively than when they work separately. With pairs working more effectively than in larger groups as there is a much simpler social process which exists than when they work in larger groups, this being due to the fact that pupils need time to develop their ways of working well together and with more pupils within the group there are more children to develop social relationships with. Herts el at (1995) also identified that when working in a group the experience of working together cooperatively results in increased motivation. This may be as a result of participants feeling that they have a sense of personal responsibility to work fairly and complete a task equally. But effective group work involves more than this; with pupils having to learn to trust and respect each other (Galton, 1990). Smith (2010) identify that if pupils are to work to their full capacity with independence, teachers must adopt specific techniques to ensure that the children within their class can work without adult support. For a teacher to Interact too soon will also undo the preparation which the teacher has done when letting their students take control of their own learning, therefore taking a step back and observing helps children to get on with their own learning. Smith (2010) also identifies the need to use your students’ loyalty and respect for each other to encourage them towards being an engaged learner. Research literature indicates that cooperative and collaborative group work has positive effects on pupil academic and social outcomes (Slavin, Hurley & Chamberlain, 2003; O’Donnell & King, 1999; Webb & Palincsar, 1996). However, this picture contrasts with accounts of the use of groups in UK schools which have consistently shown that little genuine group work takes place and still less is of good quality (Baines, Blatchford & Kutnick, 2003; Galton, Hargreaves, Comber, Wall & Pell, 1999). In an often quoted finding, Galton, Simon and Croll (1980), showed that within the majority of primary classrooms children sit in groups but rarely work as groups. Instead, pupils work individually or as a whole class. Pilot study and findings Prior to the start of the research project the target group of 8 pupils (3 boys and 5 girls) completed a questionnaire where their opinions about mathematics were collected verbally. All the children in the group identified that they found math’s hard although at times sometimes they found some of the activities fun and interesting. They identified their successes by their level of attainment in comparison to their peers and whether they had finished the task and got all of their answers correct. When asked what would make them enjoy mathematics lessons more 6 out of the 8 children responded with being able to work with a friend. All children on entry into the math’s class during the Autumn 2011 term carried out a summative assessment test, during the Spring Term 2011/2012 collaborative math’s tasks were carried out on a weekly basis which gave the children an opportunity to use and apply their knowledge and skills which were learnt during that week. Some collaborative tasks resulting in children working in pairs or alternatively small groups and on some occasions the activity spread across 2 sessions. As well as working collaboratively children were given opportunities to work independently on differentiated tasks however children always sat in mixed ability table groups unless working on a focused adult lead activity. Children were given the opportunity to work on a variety of collaborative tasks which incorporated all strands of mathematics however it was felt that some tasks which incorporated a combination of

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different mathematical concepts were more successful as they gave the children more opportunity and challenge. Observations of mixed ability friendship pairs working collaboratively with increased motivation proved successful as the pupils demonstrated a loyalty and respect for each others views and opinions, the respect the children had for each other allowed them to work with greater motivation and success as they wanted to work together to achieve, less able pupil’s mathematical knowledge and skills were also improved by the support their more able friendship peer gave them by teaching them new methods and strategies, helping them to be more engaged in their activity as well as increasing their ability to achieve success. Working with a more able non friendship pupil also increased motivation towards the task however it did result in the more able pupil taking the lead which may have harnessed the progress for the less able pupil but may have increased the more able pupil’s ability to explain and reason. When working in small groups It was felt during the observations that the less able pupil saw working with the more able peers as a way to achieve success rather than truly collaborating, often being given a task to ‘keep them busy’ rather than develop their mathematical knowledge and understanding. Working collaboratively in similar ability paired groups resulted in ‘real collaborative working’ where children were observed taking equally turns and achieving success during most activities. It was also observed on one occasion with a less able pair achieving success over a more able pair. They were observed discussing and working together as equals rather than competing against each other and this may have been a contributing factor to their success. Although not the intention of the research study, pupil attainment with 5 out of the 8 pupils improved by 2 national curriculum sub levels, 2 pupils increased by 1 sub level and 1 pupils level of attainment remained constant. As a control group was not in place during the research study it is impossible to say whether working collaboratively contributed to the increase in pupil attainment. The classroom environment has an ethos of collaborative working which allowed the pupils to interact socially with each other in a positive manner, this may also have been a contributing factor to the levels of engagement and motivation the children have displayed during this project and may be a considering factor if the research was to be replicated in another class. Successful motivated learners were also observed only when the teacher adopted strategies to ensure the children could work without adult support and truly collaborate with each other. Pupils were encouraged to be resourceful in their learning and use each other as well as the resources within the classroom rather than instantly approaching the teacher for support. All of which underpin the schools ethos of individuals building their own learning power and being collaborative resourceful learners. Reflection, evaluation and interpretation of the outcomes From the research evidence it was clear that working in pupil groups was more effective when creating motivation than working in larger groups as the larger the group the harder it became to interact on an equal collaborative level. More able peers working with less able pupils resulted in motivated working but with the more able pupil taking on the role of a teacher more than working in collaboration. True collaborative working took place with pupils of similar abilities or when working with different ability friendship pairs. Pupils were observed teaching each other strategies and resolving problems and tasks together. To ensure collaborate working took place, planning and preparation was vital and tasks had to be well thought out to ensure real collaborative working was able to take place. Although all of the strands of mathematics were addressed it was often more successful when 2 or more strands were incorporated to target both pupils strengths and weaknesses therefore allowing the pairings to share their knowledge and understanding. Sadly due to National end of key stage tests the research project came to a conclusion at the end of

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the Spring term as it was felt that working collaboratively didn’t always give an easy assessment of pupil achievement, therefore I feel it would be beneficial to carry out the research within another year group, incorporate a control group and monitor pupil attainment to assess the academic benefits of working collaboratively. Following an end of research questionnaire pupils clearly enjoyed being given the opportunity to work in collaboration as they felt their peers not only helped support them but also by helping each other enabled them all to achieve success. The achievement of success was also a contributing factor to the levels of motivation they demonstrated. When creating a collaborative working environment I feel it is essential to create a classroom culture which facilitates this, also time and understanding to plan truly collaborative tasks which children can become involved in. I feel it is also important to understand the need to allow for all learning styles and that there are also opportunities for independent working to help with pupil assessment as well as the need to match learning styles to individual pupils who may also benefit from working both independently as well as collaboratively. Reference List Baines, E., Blatchford, P. & Kutnick, P. (2003) Changes in grouping practices over primary and secondary school, International Journal of Educational Research, 39, 9-34. Galton, M.J., Hargreaves, L., Comber, C., Wall, D. & Pell, A. (1999) Inside the primary classroom: 20 years on. London: Routledge Galton, M.J., Simon, B. & Croll, P. (1980) Inside the primary classroom. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Galton, M. (1990) Grouping and group-work. In C. Rogers, & P. Kutnick (Eds.), Social psychology of the primary school. London: Routledge Hertz-Lanzarowitz, R., Kirkus V.B. and Miller N. (1995) Interaction in cooperative groups - the theoretical anatomy of group learning :Cambridge University Press O’Donnell, A. M., & King, A. (Eds.) (1999) Cognitive perspectives on peer learning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Slavin, R., Hurley, E.A., & Chamberlain, A. (2003) Cooperative learning and achievement: Theory and research. In W.M. Reynolds & G.M. Miller (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Educational psychology, (Vol.7, pp.177-198). New York: Wiley. Smith, J. (2010) The Lazy Teacher's Handbook: How your students learn more when you teach less (Independent Thinking Series) Carmarthen: Crown House Publishing Webb, N. M., & Palincsar, A. S. (1996) Group processes in the classroom. In D. C. Berliner, & R. C. Calfee (Eds.), Handbook of educational psychology New York: Macmillan