Should Students Talk During Math?

As you know, children think about and solve problems in various ways. One child’s strategy may be totally different from another student's. Yet when students share their work and compare the similarities and differences, they’re having a rich mathematical conversation. This activates more areas of the brain compared to just listening and copying a teacher’s solving process step-by-step.

Math classroom set-ups are changing around our country. Students are no longer quietly sitting in rows, copying down a problem solved by their teacher. In schools throughout our country, many of the classrooms are set up in a group format. This allows for collaboration, productive struggle, and rich student-to-student discourse.

Working with hundreds of teachers as a K-8 math coach, I have seen many of them successfully implement these changes. When moving forward many teachers want their students to have rich mathematical conversations, but they’re not quite sure how to make it happen.

Here are 4 strategies I recommend that work in small-group or whole-group settings.

1. Whole-class Fishbowl (5 minutes): This works great when you want to discuss solving methods for a challenging problem or as part of a lesson.

First, have the class circle around a small group of students. The inside group is the fish. They share their solving strategies for a problem. The outside circle is the observer group. They watch, listen, and learn. With younger children we have them put their hands behind their back and ask that they listen quietly. This allows for the inner group—the fish—to discuss their solving process. Once the inner group is finished, the outside group can ask the inner group questions. There are a few ways to do this, though one way is to discuss similarities or differences in solving strategies. This keeps the pace and engagement high throughout the lesson.

You can see what I mean in the picture below.