Exploring Math Moments: Middle-schoolers’ Phases of Problem-solving, Executive Functions in Practice, and Collaborative Problem Solving
Collaborative problem solving (CPS) has been shown to both engage and benefit students’ learning of mathematics. However, there is evidence that group work is not always easy to facilitate, in part because educators lack details about learners’ engagement during group work: the processes of problem...
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| Language: | English |
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EARLI
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Frontline Learning Research |
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| Online Access: | https://flr.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/journal/article/view/1371 |
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| author | K. Ann Renninger Ricardo Böheim Julien Corven Maria Consuelo De Dios Maeve R. Hogan Moe Htet Kyaw Ana G. Michels Marina Nakayama Pablo Torres Núñez Helena Werneck de Souza Dias Feven Yared |
| author_facet | K. Ann Renninger Ricardo Böheim Julien Corven Maria Consuelo De Dios Maeve R. Hogan Moe Htet Kyaw Ana G. Michels Marina Nakayama Pablo Torres Núñez Helena Werneck de Souza Dias Feven Yared |
| author_sort | K. Ann Renninger |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Collaborative problem solving (CPS) has been shown to both engage and benefit students’ learning of mathematics. However, there is evidence that group work is not always easy to facilitate, in part because educators lack details about learners’ engagement during group work: the processes of problem solving involved, and how these are engaged. In this exploratory study, we focused on these processes in the moments of related math activity, or math moments, engaged by two groups of interested, urban, middle-school aged students during four sessions of work in the Virtual Math Teams (VMT) environment. We examined three phases of their problem solving: Exploring, Constructing, and Checking. In addition, to further describe the students’ cognitive and behavioral engagement, we considered both the process of students' use of executive functions (EF), during problem solving, termed executive functions in practice (EFP), as well as the stage of CPS (Participation, Cooperation, and Collaboration), during phases of problem solving. We learned that the relation between each phase of problem solving, categories of EFP, and stages of CPS vary; for example, the problem-solving phase of Exploring was found to have a more positive effect on EFP and CPS than either Constructing or Checking. Implications for educational practice, and next steps for related research are described.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0e4858efc1d84c6d80b6ed443a347d1b |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2295-3159 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | EARLI |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontline Learning Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-0e4858efc1d84c6d80b6ed443a347d1b2025-08-20T02:05:25ZengEARLIFrontline Learning Research2295-31592025-03-0113210.14786/flr.v13i2.1371Exploring Math Moments: Middle-schoolers’ Phases of Problem-solving, Executive Functions in Practice, and Collaborative Problem SolvingK. Ann Renninger0Ricardo Böheim1Julien Corven2Maria Consuelo De Dios3Maeve R. Hogan4Moe Htet Kyaw5Ana G. Michels6Marina Nakayama7Pablo Torres Núñez8Helena Werneck de Souza Dias9Feven Yared10Swarthmore College, USATechnical University of Munich, GermanyIllinois State University, USASwarthmore College, USASwarthmore College, USASwarthmore College, USASwarthmore CollegeSwarthmore College, USAUniversity of Cambridge, United KingdomSwarthmore CollegeSwarthmore College Collaborative problem solving (CPS) has been shown to both engage and benefit students’ learning of mathematics. However, there is evidence that group work is not always easy to facilitate, in part because educators lack details about learners’ engagement during group work: the processes of problem solving involved, and how these are engaged. In this exploratory study, we focused on these processes in the moments of related math activity, or math moments, engaged by two groups of interested, urban, middle-school aged students during four sessions of work in the Virtual Math Teams (VMT) environment. We examined three phases of their problem solving: Exploring, Constructing, and Checking. In addition, to further describe the students’ cognitive and behavioral engagement, we considered both the process of students' use of executive functions (EF), during problem solving, termed executive functions in practice (EFP), as well as the stage of CPS (Participation, Cooperation, and Collaboration), during phases of problem solving. We learned that the relation between each phase of problem solving, categories of EFP, and stages of CPS vary; for example, the problem-solving phase of Exploring was found to have a more positive effect on EFP and CPS than either Constructing or Checking. Implications for educational practice, and next steps for related research are described. https://flr.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/journal/article/view/1371Problem solving,Executive functions,Collaborative problem solving,Momentary engagement |
| spellingShingle | K. Ann Renninger Ricardo Böheim Julien Corven Maria Consuelo De Dios Maeve R. Hogan Moe Htet Kyaw Ana G. Michels Marina Nakayama Pablo Torres Núñez Helena Werneck de Souza Dias Feven Yared Exploring Math Moments: Middle-schoolers’ Phases of Problem-solving, Executive Functions in Practice, and Collaborative Problem Solving Frontline Learning Research Problem solving, Executive functions, Collaborative problem solving, Momentary engagement |
| title | Exploring Math Moments: Middle-schoolers’ Phases of Problem-solving, Executive Functions in Practice, and Collaborative Problem Solving |
| title_full | Exploring Math Moments: Middle-schoolers’ Phases of Problem-solving, Executive Functions in Practice, and Collaborative Problem Solving |
| title_fullStr | Exploring Math Moments: Middle-schoolers’ Phases of Problem-solving, Executive Functions in Practice, and Collaborative Problem Solving |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring Math Moments: Middle-schoolers’ Phases of Problem-solving, Executive Functions in Practice, and Collaborative Problem Solving |
| title_short | Exploring Math Moments: Middle-schoolers’ Phases of Problem-solving, Executive Functions in Practice, and Collaborative Problem Solving |
| title_sort | exploring math moments middle schoolers phases of problem solving executive functions in practice and collaborative problem solving |
| topic | Problem solving, Executive functions, Collaborative problem solving, Momentary engagement |
| url | https://flr.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/journal/article/view/1371 |
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