The Effects of Teacher Discourse on Collaborative Student

Problem Solving

Noreen Webb, Marsha Ing, Nicole Kersting, Kariane Nemer

UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information StudiesNational Center for Research on Evaluation,Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST)

CRESST Conference, UCLA

September 10, 2004

Previous Research Guiding the Study

• Collaborative group work may promote student learning

• Group dynamics important for learning:

Monitoring of student comprehension

Level of helping behavior (explanations vs. answers)

Level of engagement with help received (constructive use vs. passive

acknowledgement)

• Groups may not engage in high-level discussion, even with intensive preparation and practice

Previous Research Guiding the Study (continued)

• Low-level discussion has been linked to

Characteristics of students and groups

Nature of instructional task

Reward structure

• This study examined the role of the teacher:

How did teacher instructional behavior influence behavior of student work groups?

Design of the Study• Four 7th-grade general math classes worked

in heterogeneous cooperative groups for one semester

• Preparation/training for group work (3 phases, 4 weeks each)

• Communication skills

• Helping skills

• Explaining skills

• All teachers and groups were audiotaped for 5 class periods

• Pretests and posttests for each phase

Students Who Do Understand How to Solve the Problem( “Helper” Classroom Chart)

• Notice when other students need help

See if anyone in your group needs help

• Tell other students to ask you if they need help

“If you need help, ask me”

• When someone asks for help, help him or her

“I’ll help you. What don’t you understand?”

Helper Chart (continued)

• Be a good listener

Let your teammate explain what he or she doesn’t understand.

• Give explanations instead of the answer

“8.5% is not the same as $0.85. The sales tax is not the same amount of money for every bill. The bigger the bill is, the bigger the tax will be. 10% of $24.00 is $2.40, so the sales tax will be a little less than that.

• Watch how your teammate solves it

Helper Chart (continued)

• Give specific feedback on how your teammate solved the problem

“You multiplied the numbers OK, but you have to be careful of the decimal point. If the bill is $24, the sales tax can’t be $204.00.”

• Check for understanding

“Tell me again why you think the sales tax is $2.04 instead of $204.00”

• Praise your teammate

“Good job!” “Nice work!” “You’ve got it!”

Students Who Do Not Understand How to Solve the Problem

(“Helpee” Classroom Chart)

• Recognize that you need help

I don’t understand how to calculate the sales tax.

• Decide to get help from another student

I’m going to ask someone for help.

• Choose someone to help you

I think Maria could help me.

Helpee Chart (continued)

• Ask for help

“Could you help me with the sales tax?”

• Ask clear and precise questions

“Our group’s bill is $24.00. Why don’t we just add $0.85 for the sales tax?”

• Keep asking until you understand

“So if the bill was $50.00, are you saying that the sales tax would be 8.5% of $50.00?”

Results

Student behavior in groups mirrored (a) teacher behavior and (b) teacher’s expectations for student behavior in terms of:

• Level of help provided

• Monitoring of student understanding

• Role of students having difficulty:

Help-seeking behavior

Use of help received

Independent problem solving

Typical Teaching Episode

Problem: Find the cost of an 8-minute long-distance telephone call: first minute costs $0.13; each additional minute costs $0.08.

1 T Alright, I would like everybody to start with number 2. Who could read it? Ah, back at the end in the corner. Page 96, number 2.

2 S1 8-minute call to (prefix) 726.

3 T 8 minutes. How much for the first minute?

4 S2 13 cents.

5 T 13 cents. How many minutes do I have left?

Typical Teaching Episode (continued)

6 S3 6. [incorrect]

7 T How did you get 6?

8 S3 Ah.

9 T How many?

10 S4 7.

11 T How much for each minute?

12 S5 13 cents. [incorrect]

13 T It’s also 13?

14 S6 8.

Typical Teaching Episode (continued)

15 S7 Yeah, 8 cents.

16 T 13 (cents) for the first minute, alright. And 8 cents for each additional

(minute). How much is that? 7 times 8 cents. And the total cost will be?

17 S8 69.

18 T Alright, please write it on your paper. You have to write this: 8 minutes, the first minute cost 13 cents. Then you have 7 minutes left, which cost 8 cents each. Alright, any question about number 2? [No reply]

Features of Teaching EpisodeTeacher behavior

• Identified and set up steps in the problem

• Requested numerical answers only

• Did not explain why student answers were correct or incorrect

• Did not probe student thinking or invite student questions

• Focused exclusively on numerical procedures

Student Responsibilities

• To respond to teacher’s questions with correct numerical answers only (low-level responses)

• To carry out procedures identified by the teacher (low-level cognitive activity)

Small-Group Episode

Problem: Find the cost of an 11-minute long- distance telephone call: first minute costs $0.22; each additional minute costs $0.13.

1 S1 I don’t understand.

2 S2 OK. See, it says first minute. Write down the first minute. Under

first minute. Where it says each additional minute. And then, you, ah, multiply.

3 S1 Supposed to write the, each, additional minute?

Small-Group Episode (continued)

4 S3 Just, just go like this. OK, it’s a first minute, put a line through it. Just put a line through it to divide them. No, the

other way. And then put the additional minutes times 10, because the 11th

one, the first minute costed 22 cents.

5 S2 So each additional minute times 10. Multiply.

6 S3 Here, 13 times 10.

7 S2 That’s one dollar 30, right?

8 S3 Put 13 times 10.

9 S1 Alright.

Features of Group Helping Episode

Helpers

• Provided one partially-labeled “explanation” (line 4) but mostly dictated calculations

• Did not attempt to determine Student 1’s level of understanding

• Before providing help• After providing help

Helpee

• Did not ask specific questions or provide clues about his level of understanding

• Did not use help received to test his understanding

Level of Cognitive Activity Required by Teacher Questions

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Level of Cognitive Activity

Per

cent

of Q

uest

ions

.

Look up or recall number

Carry out calculations provided

Set up arithmetic procedures

Solve entire problem

Describe solution process

Helping Behavior by Teachers and Students

0102030405060708090

100

Teachers Students

Perc

en

t o

f H

elp

ing

Beh

avio

r .

1 Non-content help

2 Answer or single number

3 Unlabeled numerical procedure

4 Labeled procedure or explanation

Monitoring Behavior by Teachers and Students

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Teachers Students

Per

cent

of M

onito

ring

Beh

avio

r .

Requestsanswer

Requestsexplanation ordescription

Help-Seeking by Students Having Difficulty

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Student Category

Per

cen

t o

f S

tud

ents

.

Asked only generalquestions

Requested a specificexplanation

Student Use of Help Received (Maximum Level)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Maximum Student Behavior

Per

cen

t of S

tud

ents

. Did nothing

Acknowledged helpreceived

Carried out work setup by others

Used help to solveproblems withoutassistance

Conclusions

• Despite intensive preparation, teachers did not change their recitation style of instruction

Assumed most of the responsibility for problem solving

Placed students in a passive responder role

Required students to carry out mostly low-level cognitive processes

• Interaction in small groups resembled behavior modeled by teachers more than behavior stressed in group-work training activities

Future Research

• Non-experimental research

Investigate broad range of teaching styles

Examine links among teacher behavior, small-group dynamics, and student learning

• Experimental research

Design and implement interventions to change teacher practice

Observe effects on small-group dynamics and student learning