Investigating the Effectiveness of Group Work in Mathematics
Group work permits students to develop a range of critical thinking, analytical and communication skills; effective team work; appreciation and respect for other views, techniques and problem-solving methods, all of which promote active learning and enhance student learning. This paper presents an e...
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doaj-860eb7a58abc40038f0bc71925c7e3282020-11-24T22:23:08ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022016-09-01633010.3390/educsci6030030educsci6030030Investigating the Effectiveness of Group Work in MathematicsAnastasia Sofroniou0Konstantinos Poutos1School of Computing and Engineering, University of West London, St. Mary’s Road, London W5 5RF, UKSchool of Computing and Engineering, University of West London, St. Mary’s Road, London W5 5RF, UKGroup work permits students to develop a range of critical thinking, analytical and communication skills; effective team work; appreciation and respect for other views, techniques and problem-solving methods, all of which promote active learning and enhance student learning. This paper presents an evaluation of employing the didactic and pedagogical customs of group work in mathematics with the aim of improving student performance as well as exploring students’ perceptions of working in groups. The evaluation of group work was carried out during tutorial time with first year civil engineering students undertaking a mathematics module in their second semester. The aim was to investigate whether group work learning can help students gain a deeper understanding of the module content, develop improved critical and analytical thinking skills and see if this method of pedagogy can produce higher performance levels. The group work sessions were conducted over four weeks whilst studying the topic of integration. Evaluation surveys were collected at the end of the intervention along with an investigation into the examination results from the end of semester examinations. In order to derive plausible and reasonable conclusions, these examination results were compared with an analogous cohort of first year mathematics students, also studying integration in their engineering-based degree. The investigation into the effectiveness of group work showed interesting and encouraging positive outcomes, supported by a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis.http://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/6/3/30group workenhancing mathematical learningcollaborative and cooperative learning |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Anastasia Sofroniou Konstantinos Poutos |
spellingShingle |
Anastasia Sofroniou Konstantinos Poutos Investigating the Effectiveness of Group Work in Mathematics Education Sciences group work enhancing mathematical learning collaborative and cooperative learning |
author_facet |
Anastasia Sofroniou Konstantinos Poutos |
author_sort |
Anastasia Sofroniou |
title |
Investigating the Effectiveness of Group Work in Mathematics |
title_short |
Investigating the Effectiveness of Group Work in Mathematics |
title_full |
Investigating the Effectiveness of Group Work in Mathematics |
title_fullStr |
Investigating the Effectiveness of Group Work in Mathematics |
title_full_unstemmed |
Investigating the Effectiveness of Group Work in Mathematics |
title_sort |
investigating the effectiveness of group work in mathematics |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Education Sciences |
issn |
2227-7102 |
publishDate |
2016-09-01 |
description |
Group work permits students to develop a range of critical thinking, analytical and communication skills; effective team work; appreciation and respect for other views, techniques and problem-solving methods, all of which promote active learning and enhance student learning. This paper presents an evaluation of employing the didactic and pedagogical customs of group work in mathematics with the aim of improving student performance as well as exploring students’ perceptions of working in groups. The evaluation of group work was carried out during tutorial time with first year civil engineering students undertaking a mathematics module in their second semester. The aim was to investigate whether group work learning can help students gain a deeper understanding of the module content, develop improved critical and analytical thinking skills and see if this method of pedagogy can produce higher performance levels. The group work sessions were conducted over four weeks whilst studying the topic of integration. Evaluation surveys were collected at the end of the intervention along with an investigation into the examination results from the end of semester examinations. In order to derive plausible and reasonable conclusions, these examination results were compared with an analogous cohort of first year mathematics students, also studying integration in their engineering-based degree. The investigation into the effectiveness of group work showed interesting and encouraging positive outcomes, supported by a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis. |
topic |
group work enhancing mathematical learning collaborative and cooperative learning |
url |
http://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/6/3/30 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT anastasiasofroniou investigatingtheeffectivenessofgroupworkinmathematics AT konstantinospoutos investigatingtheeffectivenessofgroupworkinmathematics |
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