Thursday, November 21, 2024

Inquiry Project: Annotated Bibliography

The working title for my inquiry project has been slightly shifted to: The Art of Small Assistance in Mathematics Classrooms - Beginning and End

To explain briefly:
  • "The Art of": A fancy tagline to add flavour to the title. Also signals that the inquiry is one that seeks mastery of a facet of teaching.
  • "Small Assistance": I chose "small" instead of "one-on-one" because only half the cases would involve just one student in the interaction; especially in group work classrooms, it usually ends up being multiple students in the interaction where a teacher assists students.
    • I considered replacing "assistance" with "intervention" because of how useful the latter word has been for my search results, but there's a connotation that implies that the teacher forced their way into the situation which is only one of the types of interactions I intend to capture. The other main one would be if students raise their hand.
  • "Beginning": Refers to what I call the Beginning phase of these assistance interactions. This refers to the monitoring of students to see who needs help, and assessing the situation in the moment to know where to start with the assistance.
  • "End": Refers to what I call the End phase of these assistance interactions. This refers to the latter end of the interaction, where the teacher decides if they can leave a student on their own, as well as how they balance the current student with other students who need their attention. Also refers to how the teacher physically conducts themselves during the interactions to see who else may need help.
While the focus is on the Beginning and End phases, I have also defined a Middle phase that refers to the actual assistance that takes place; things like scaffolding and conversational techniques would come up here. I may mention bits and pieces if they contribute to the Beginning and End subtopics, but it will likely be left to a follow-up inquiry project.

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The annotated bibliography:

Campbell, T., Yeo, S., Green, M., & Rich, E. (2023). Intervening in Mathematics Group 

Work in the Middle Grades. Research in Mathematical Education, 26(1), 1–17. 

https://doi.org/10.7468/JKSMED.2023.26.1.1

Although also a group-approach, middle school context, the article brings to light 

the ideas of how group work creates alternatives for teacher interventions as well 

as breaking up the Beginning phase into a “monitoring” and “intervening” phase. 

Article generally covers the entire assistance interaction, with suggestions on 

how to end.

Carnegie Mellon University. (2014). Tutoring Guide - Gelfand Center - Carnegie Mellon University. Cmu.edu. https://www.cmu.edu/gelfand/education/cmu-students/tutoring-guide/index.html. This website is a general tutoring guide that provides strategies and advice for small-group learning environments. Although there is a missing element of time pressure and large class size balancing, there are still many applicable points and ideas that serve as a starting point for the inquiry topic.

Chiu, M. M. (2004). Adapting Teacher Interventions to Student Needs During Cooperative Learning: How to Improve Student Problem Solving and Time On-Task. American Educational Research Journal, 41(2), 365–399. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312041002365

Article covers teacher interventions deeply within a problem solving and time on-task context and goal and classroom context, with considerations made that align with my field observations and interviews, including the idea of how on-task students are, psychological aspects of intervention demand, and how help content and evaluation of work comes into play throughout the interactions. Chosen for its implications on how to know when students can be left on their own with respect to on-taskedness and ability to continue working without the teacher.

Ding, M., Li, X., Piccolo, D., & Kulm, G. (2007). Teacher Interventions in 

Cooperative-Learning Mathematics Classes. The Journal of Educational 

Research, 100(3), 162–175. https://doi.org/10.3200/JOER.100.3.162-175

Cooperative learning (with group work settings where students are kept together) 

in elementary/middle school settings are covered. Although not secondary 

school, the classroom setup is similar to similar group work settings in secondary 

level mathematics classrooms. Discusses intervention specs such as type, 

frequency, and length in the interest of optimizing intervention quality.

Hofmann, R., & Mercer, N. (2015). Teacher interventions in small group work in secondary mathematics and science lessons. Language and Education, 30(5), 400–416. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2015.1125363

Article also goes into group work management in classrooms, and discusses the teacher as a figure in a monitoring role. Different ideas on intervention being a way to model, as well as discussing intentions and effects of intervention specifications.

Iasevoli, B. (2021, September 27). One-on-One Teaching Strategies to Reach All Learners. Hmhco.com. https://www.hmhco.com/blog/one-on-one-teaching-strategies?srsltid=AfmBOor2k9fdFhe0x5cvWanKU--N_AsAR9LQQs8H_4Hdsvd2m3dD73fB. 

Lists a handful of strategies regarding one-on-one teaching strategies for a “30 kids in your class” scenario. Although simple, the article is a strong starting point for ideas on how to integrate small-group interactions, including alternatives.

Liljedahl, P. (2016). Building Thinking Classrooms: Conditions for Problem-Solving. In 

Posing and Solving Mathematical Problems (pp. 361–386). Springer, Cham. 

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28023-3_21

Article discusses small group assistance situations in a Thinking Classroom 

context; coverage includes the types of motivations that students may have for 

calling for help, and alternatives to direct teacher assistance that stem from this 

type of classroom.

Mason, J. (2016). When Is a Problem…? “When” Is Actually the Problem!. Springer EBooks, 263–285. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28023-3_16

Covers the general purpose of small-group interventions in a mathematics classroom; coverage includes the concept of being stuck as a cause for intervention demand, the purpose of interventions, and psychologies behind students being stuck and “teacher lust” affecting intervention quality. These concepts opened up different angles on the topic that I did not consider.





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