Teaching primary mathematics with challenging tasks: How should lessons be structured?

James Russo and Sarah Hopkins

The Journal of Educational Research, 2019, vol. 112, issue 1, 98-109

Abstract: Engaging students in a challenging (cognitively demanding) task and launching a mathematics lesson with a task before instruction are two characteristics of a reform-oriented approach to mathematics instruction often considered together. The authors systematically contrasted teaching with challenging tasks using a task-first lesson structure with that of a discussion-first lesson structure to three composite classes of first- and second-grade students (n = 73). Subsequent assessments of mathematical performance revealed that the discussion-first lesson structure was somewhat more efficacious in improving fluency performance but both structures similarly improved problem-solving performance. The findings suggest there is more than one way of incorporating challenging tasks into mathematics lessons to produce sizeable learning gains.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1080/00220671.2018.1440369

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