TA Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Supporting Productive Struggle in Learning Mathematics

Summary: Students learn through productive struggle. Students learn to become problem solvers when working through struggles on their own. When students learn things on their own, they may find a bigger connection to it. Productive struggle does not mean that teachers allow students to struggle endlessly without support. Teacher should support students to learn and problem solve through their struggle. Teachers may ask questions to guide or redirect students in their learning. 

Implications for Future Teaching: It is important that students learn how to explore academic concepts and learn rather than explicitly being told everything. I want to ask questions that help my students explore concepts and solve problems. 

2 Questions:

1. How long should teachers let students struggle before stepping in?

2. Are there any other resources that teachers can use to guide students through productive struggle? (Such as checklists?)

Comments

  1. Dr. NugentNovember 4, 2019 at 11:41 AM

    You want to give them plenty of time to process and work through the concepts, but also keep them from becoming frustrated. You could provide a check list of have you tried this, and this, and this, etc. You could also hang up some posters that encourage students to work together and persevere in working on difficult tasks. Thanks!

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