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Visibly random groups

See also: teaching, complex-instruction, random-group-allocator

Thinking classrooms#

In building-a-thinking-classroom, Liljedahl (2020) breaks 14 "thinking classroom practices" into four toolkits that can be implemented sequentially. The first toolkit consists of three practices

  • Give thinking tasks
  • Frequently form visibly random groups
  • Use vertical non-permanent surfaces

The suggestion being they need to be implemented together to be effective. In part because implemented together they "shock" the system of the classroom into new behaviour.

Original formulation (2014)#

Liljedahl (2014) recommends making group work ubiquitous where

  1. Groups are allocated in every class.
  2. Lesson begins by the teaching generating random groups.
  3. Students stay in groups even when teacher is giving instructions, teaching, or demonstrating.

After initial resistance, longer term benefits observed include

  • Students become agreeable to work in any group they are placed in.
  • There is an elimination of social barriers within the classroom.
  • Mobility of knowledge between students increases.
  • Reliance on the teacher for answers decreases.
  • Reliance on co-constructed intra- and intergroup answers increases.
  • Engagement in classroom tasks increases.
  • Students become more enthusiastic about mathematics class.

References#

Liljedahl, P. (2014). The Affordances of Using Visibly Random Groups in a Mathematics Classroom. In Y. Li, E. A. Silver, & S. Li (Eds.), Transforming Mathematics Instruction: Multiple Approaches and Practices (pp. 127--144). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04993-9_8

Liljedahl, P. (2020). Pulling the 14 practices together to build a thinking classroom. In Building thinking classrooms in mathematics, grades k-12: 14 teaching practices to enhance learning. Corwin Press.