Comments on: One more thought on working in groups

By: jd2718

jd2718 — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 03:31:39 +0000

I don’t think it translates well out of mathematics… but in my high school, and specifically in the freshman and sophomore math classes (another teacher and myself) we actively cultivate this.

Jonathan

By: Chani

Chani — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:14:16 +0000

Yes. We (or at least I do and I’m generalizing about my peer group) understand. It’s too bad that in high school our group projects are not as challenging or we’re stuck with a useless group with only one or two people doing all of the work. It’s to the point where I want to cry when I hear ‘group work’ and ‘we’re picking the group’ in the same sentence.

By: Robert

Robert — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 02:01:38 +0000

I don’t think this has to do with math specifically. The behavior I’m referring to — working hard and contributing to a group process but then switching to all-individual work when called for — doesn’t appear to me to be confined to mathematics courses, even hard ones. It seems more like jsut the product of growing up knowing what’s right and wrong, and with having a strong work ethic and pride in your work. I don’t think you have to be a math genius, or even a math student, to have that behavior.

I think that kind of thing comes from parents and friends. Teachers merely reinforce it and make it content-specific.

By: Ben Chun

Ben Chun — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 01:14:28 +0000

Another way to put it is: The behavior you see in the students in Math 55 is the result of a teacher or teachers, somewhere along the way, getting students inside the true enjoyment and challenge of mathematics. They don’t just spontaneously start acting like that. I’d like to ask them all who taught them how to do real work in math. Do you think they learned in high school?

By: Isabel

Isabel — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:58:10 +0000

The issue with Math 55 is that, since it attracts only the best and the brightest, and (as far I can tell) is not required of any student, the students in that classroom probably all want to be there and want to learn as much mathematics as they can. Therefore they will not cut corners, because they know they are cheating their future selves. The students in a more ordinary class, however, may not necessarily want to be there; they may know that they will not need the material in the future and are not particularly invested in learning it, just in getting a good grade. Therefore some of them will cut corners, since their motivation is a mark on a transcript, not the learning it ostensibly represents.

By: Jackie

Jackie — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 16:13:28 +0000

I can’t say that my students are at that level (but they’re only freshmen in high school). I think they understand that the group work is to help with their individual understanding. They know they will be individually assessed on problem solving. My hope is that by the time they are juniors and seniors they’ll fully understand the group process.