PROCEEDINGS OF THE 16TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION (Vol 2)
2013
Denver, Colorado
That’s Nice...but is it Worth Sharing?
Page: 2-707
Productive groupwork requires “group-worthy” problems (cf. Complex Instruction; Featherstone et al., 2011), which are nontrivial, require multiple competencies, and often have multiple solution paths (see also “problem aesthetic”; Schoenfeld, 1991). In contrast, groupwork with standard tasks often degenerates into one student “teaching” the other, because the tasks do not support collaborative learning. Short of full-blown collaborative groupwork, partner work is often a productive practice. In this poster, I discuss a particular type of partner work (peer- assessment) and the affordances required of tasks to make the activity productive. I dub these problems “peer-worthy.” Peer-worthy problems should satisfy a number of the following criteria; they: (1) are nontrivial, (2) have multiple solution paths, (3) require students to generate examples, and (4) involve explanation. In short, peer-worthy problems require students to generate mathematics in problem situations that allow for many different productive pathways, allowing students to deepen their understanding by making connections.