How might focusing questions allow fourth grade students to engage in productive struggle during mathematics instruction?

Brady Youngberg


Seminar Title


How might focusing questions allow fourth grade students to engage in productive struggle during mathematics instruction?


Concept/Strategy

Focus of the Research


Productive struggle


Grade Level

Research Was Applied


4th Grade


Relevant Grade Level

Connections


Elementary


Discipline

Where Research Was Applied


Mathematics


Additional Discipline Areas

I see Application to


All Disciplines


Invitation/Commercial


When faced with challenge, how do we want our students to respond? Do we want them to give up and wait for someone to give them the answer? Or would we rather push them to evaluate the problem, activate prior knowledge, and begin the search for a solution? I myself believe firmly in the latter, but the problem lies with this: How? How can we teach them to figure out what they need to solve the problem and use their skills to leave the problem in the dust? Learning how to persevere through difficulty is more than an academic skill, it is a life skill. It is our duty to teach our students how to get on without us. By using focusing questions in our dialogue with them, we put the learning back in their hands, using their thoughts to guide the learning process. Join us to collaborate and discuss the ways in which we teach our students to believe in themselves and their abilities, so that they can solve the problems the world presents them with.