Enhancing mathematical reasoning in the classroom: The effects of cooperative learning and metacognitive training

Bracha Kramarski, Zemira R. Mevarech

    Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

    286 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of four instructional methods on students' mathematical reasoning and metacognitive knowledge. The participants were 384 eighth-grade students. The instructional methods were cooperative learning combined with metacognitive training (COOP+META), individualized learning combined with metacognitive training (IND+META), cooperative learning without metacognitive training (COOP), and individualized learning without metacognitive training (IND). Results showed that the COOP+META group significantly outperformed the IND+META group, which in turn significantly outperformed the COOP and IND groups on graph interpretation and various aspects of mathematical explanations. Furthermore, the metacognitive groups (COOP+META and IND+META) outperformed their counterparts (COOP and IND) on graph construction (transfer tasks) and metacognitive knowledge. This article presents theoretical and practical implications of the findings.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)281-310
    Number of pages30
    JournalAmerican Educational Research Journal
    Volume40
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 2003

    Keywords

    • Argumentation
    • Graphs
    • Mathematical reasoning
    • Metacognition
    • Transfer task

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