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Common Core

Mikayla Christensen

Salt Lake Community College

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Collaborative learning is a teaching method that is very helpful for students no matter

what their skill level may be. This type of learning also helps students work on some of the

Common Core Standards (CCS), which includes the Standards for Mathematical Practice (SMP).

Teaching with collaborative learning can improve not only students academic success, but their

also confidence in themselves.

Collaborative learning helps contribute to the Common Core Standards because the it

includes what are called Standards for Mathematical Practice. These standards are put in place in

order to help students prepare for life after school, whether that be for college or a career. By

using collaborative learning, there are standards that students get to practice while also

improving their math skills. For example, SMP3 teaches students to “construct viable arguments

and critique the reasoning of others” (Dolan, Williamson, & Muri, 2015). By working together, a

student must be able to construct an argument for their reasoning in order to show the others why

an answer may be correct. Those same students should also be able to critique the reasoning of

their peers in a way that makes sense and is positive. Having students practice this standard

within a small group first can be more effective than forcing students to start doing it in front of

the entire class.

With traditional teaching methods the teacher is the one who takes the lead in the lesson.

They would lecture and do sample problems on the board while students took notes. This

teaching method may not be as effective as collaborative learning. With collaborative learning

the students are going to be engaging in discussions that can take place either with a partner,

small group, or even the entire class. The students does not have to only learn from the teacher,

they can learn from their peers who may have a different understanding of the subject than they
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do. This collaboration between students can not only help their academic skills increase, it can

also help to boost confidence and improve their social skills.

A concept that I would teach using collaborative learning would be understanding that

fractions are a part of a specific whole. This fulfills the first SMP which is, “make sense of

problems and persevere in solving them” (Dolan, Williamson, & Muri, 2015). For this concept I

would use the activity, “Comparing Two Different Pizzas” (UEN Resources). This activity can

be completed in either pairs or small groups. The students are given a word problem that reads,

“Jessica and some friends have ordered two pizzas. One is a medium size and one is a large.

Jessica eats two slices of the medium sized pizza. Has Jessica eaten 2/16 of the two pizzas?

Explain your reasoning, and draw a picture to illustrate your explanation.” Along with the word

problem they are given pictures of the pizzas, that are both split into 8 pieces.

I would go over the problem with the class first, so I knew they understood what was

being asked. I would then split them into pairs to try and have them work together to solve the

problem. After about 5 minutes I would have the students move to working in groups of 4. This

way, if one pair knows how to get the answer they can teach the other pair. After giving them

time to work the problem out in their small groups I would bring the class back together to go

over the answer.

This collaborative learning activity will help students build their understanding by

allowing them to struggle through the problem on their own. It also gives the students who

understand it an opportunity to teach, and explain their thought process to their peers. The

students who may not get it, will get to experience other points of view to learn from. These are

opportunities they would not have if a teacher was using traditional instruction and just lecturing.
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References

Dolan, D., Williamson, J., & Muri, M. (2015). ​Mathematics activities for elementary school

teachers​. Pearson.

UEN Resources. Retrieved from https://www.uen.org/