Promoting a Collaborative Classroom Environment

I am an aspiring Math Education student in the School of Education. I am just beginning my experience as a student, and I hope that this program will give me the knowledge and courage I need to begin my teaching journey. I currently work at the University, and have no experience teaching in a classroom, so I hope to gain a great foundation as to what to expect in a teaching environment.

My hope is to eventually become a high school math teacher, particularly in an urban school environment.

A lot of times, students feel a lack of confidence and engagement in the classroom. An important question educators should be asking themselves is: “How can I promote engagement and collaboration in the classroom to build student confidence?” Research suggests that most students respond better to a collaborative classroom environment.

A few notable results from research on this topic:

• One research study showed that students who perceived their classrooms as allowing and encouraging their own independence in the beginning of the class greatly increased their engagement throughout the course, as opposed to a decline in engagement that was demonstrated by other students in different classrooms.

• As a result of one research study (Cornell, Witkowski, 2015), the majority of students in two different classrooms agreed that collaborative and grouping activities helped them better understand the content. Additionally, about two-thirds of the students from both classrooms said that these activities made them want to participate more.

• Additionally, one group of students was divided into several focus groups, consisting of 5 or 6 students. The students seemed to interact with each other while responding to the researcher’s questions, while they do not typically interact in the regular classroom.

It is important that teachers encourage their students to work collaboratively in the classroom. This way, they are able to interact with their peers and bounce ideas off of each other. As a result, the students will develop more confidence and are willing to participate and interact more in class.

References

Cornell, T., & Witkowski, P. (2015). An investigation into student engagement in higher education classrooms. InSight: A Journal of Scholarly Teaching, 10, 56-67. https://eric.ed.gov/q=collaborative+classroom&pr=on&ft=on&id=EJ1074054