The effect of collaborative group work lessons in mathematics as an alternative method for concept development of the students at upper primary level in Pakistan

The main aim and first research focus of this study is to evaluate whether collaborative group work (CGW) is a viable and potentially productive teaching approach in mathematics in upper primary schools in Pakistan. A subsidiary aim and the second research focus is to explore the influences of teacher‟s actions, social relations and task on student interactions during CGW. The study was conducted in two private schools over one teaching term in the academic year 2010. In relation to the first research focus, methodologically, this study used a design experiment approach over the two case studies. Evidence was collected in a usual classroom context in the form of observations, audio and video recordings, interviews, questionnaires and field notes. The purpose was to collect the data in classroom conditions that were as normal as possible. The first research focus was evaluated through the indirect evidence of its effects on students‟ interactions and attitudes. The first of these considered the extent to which students were interacting either in disputational mode, cumulative mode or exploratory mode. An exploratory mode of interaction enables meaning and knowledge to be constructed, and the thesis evaluation is based on the assumption that teaching that brings about exploratory interaction, that is where students are exchanging propositions, explaining and justifying ideas to each other, is productive. The findings show that exploratory discourse towards the end of the intervention was more extensive than in its early stages. It is concluded that primary students in mathematics classes in Pakistan are capable of engaging in effective group work that promotes exploratory discourse between them. The analysis of the attitudes to mathematics of students at the start, during and at the end of the teaching programme, based on the outcomes of semi-structured interviews (for some students) and a questionnaire (for all the students who were involved) shows a positive change in student attitudes over the period of the intervention. It is assumed that such a change has a positive influence on students‟ engagement and learning. The two sets of findings concerning the first research focus suggest that CGW is viable and can be productive in the context of primary mathematics classrooms in Pakistan.