PROCEEDINGS OF THE 16TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION (Vol 2)
2013
Denver, Colorado
Determining the Structure of Student Study Groups
Page: 2-511
Although students have reported on their study habits outside of the classroom, there has been little verification of their actual behavior during group study sessions. This project observed undergraduate students studying together outside of the classroom setting in order to determine what study groups formed and what structures described these groups. Elements of social network analysis were employed to identify the groups that students formed. Transcripts of the study sessions were coded and frequency counts were established for each type of student interaction in order to characterize the roles students assumed while studying. This paper discusses the process of identifying the study groups and sets the groundwork for sharing the student roles. One main finding of this work is that the presence of a student recognized as an authority or facilitator of the group impacts the type of conversations that occur in the group setting.