An Observational Study of Small-Group Mathematics Instruction in Elementary Schools

Abstract

This article reports a naturalistic study of small-group instruction in elementary school mathematics classes. Three school districts from three cities (a small suburban city, a large urban city, and a middle-sized city) in three midwestern states were studied. Observations (N = 206) of entire mathematics periods were made in the classrooms of 33 teachers (primarily fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade) in 21 schools. This article describes the types of small-group formats observed, the variation in teachers’ use of time in 12 teaching functions, and the extent to which group structure and use of teaching functions affected the task climate in which students learned mathematics. Six types of small-group formats were found: whole-class ad hoc, two groups, three groups, four groups or more (mixed-size groups), heterogeneous work groups (cooperative learning), and individualized grouping.