Pamela Davenport,
Christine Howe, Andrew Noble Peer interaction in the
teaching of mathematics: explanation and the coordination
of knowledge
It has been argued that
children's performance in mathematics will be boosted by collaborative
activities where they explain to peers how to solve problems.
Empirical investigations have generally been supportive, although
they identify dangers of separating the activity of problem
solving from more strategic understanding of how problems should
be approached. Background research has suggested that one route
to avoiding the dangers might involve joint problem solving
followed by a synthesis into teaching principles to be practised
subsequently in dyadic tutorial sessions.
