Educators, researchers, and policy makers recognize that student participation in classroom mathematics conversations, especially explaining one's own thinking and engaging with others' ideas, can promote students' mathematics learning. However, precisely "how" participating in these ways supports learning has not often been examined in…

The relationships among (a) student and group characteristics, group interaction, and achievement in small groups in junior high school mathematics classrooms and (b) the stability of these relationships over time were investigated. Interaction in the group was a potent predictor of achievement. (Author/LC)

Theoretical and practical issues that must be considered in the design, use, and interpretation of large-scale assessments that use collaborative small-group work are explored. It is necessary to ensure that collaboration works toward, rather than against, the purposes of the assessment. (SLD)

Outlines steps necessary for students to learn how to use one another as resources for doing mathematics, including preparation for group work, fine tuning communication and cooperation skills, and developing helping skills. Includes a "good helper" and "good help receiver" checklist. (Contains 14 references.) (MKR)

Compared effects on achievement and verbal interaction of a cooperative learning instructional program promoting basic communication skills and academic helping skills (experimental condition) with those of a program promoting only basic communication skills. Results with 166 seventh graders show more elaborated help and higher achievement for…

Provides guidelines for fairly and validly assessing students in small, cooperative groups. Discusses the purposes of assessment; how processes occurring during group collaboration may work for or against the purpose of assessment; how to design assessments with clear, consistent goals; issues involved in assigning students to groups; and…

Reviewed and analyzed are studies on task-related verbal interactions among students in small groups in mathematics classrooms and their links to mathematics achievement. Factors that predict group interaction are considered and research-based strategies for shaping group interaction are discussed. (MDH)

This study investigated the cognitive abilities, cognitive styles, and student demographic characteristics that predicted learning of computer programing in small groups; the group process variables that predicted learning of computer programing; and the student characteristics that related to group processes. Different profiles of abilities…

Student behaviors that best predicted mathematics learning in peer-directed small groups among students who needed help were studied with 166 seventh graders. Tape recordings of student interaction confirmed that receiving explanations and carrying out constructive activity were predictors of achievement. (SLD)

This study investigated the stability over time of: (1) student behavior in small groups; and (2) the relationships among student and group characteristics, group interaction, and achievement. Measurements were taken for two three-week instructional units, three months apart, on 110 students in three average-ability junior high school mathematics…

Two studies investigated gender differences in planning and debugging behavior, group processes, and achievement among junior high school students learning either Logo or BASIC computer programing in small groups or as individuals. Results indicate no differences in behavior and achievemenet of males and females. (Author/MBR)

Most research on small group learning has focused on achievement, but few studies have systematically investigated the effects of group processes on achievement, or the influences of individual aptitudes and group composition on group processes. To investigate the relationship between student aptitudes, group process, and achievement in…