Comparing permanent and alternating teams in middle school mathematics: Impacts on student engagement and social connections

Miriam Sanders, Karen Elizabeth Rambo-Hernandez and Candace Joswick

The Journal of Educational Research, 2025, vol. 118, issue 3, 281-298

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine students’ engagement in their middle school mathematics class utilizing either permanent or alternating small group membership. Many group learning instructional techniques have shown positive impacts on student behavioral, cognitive, and social engagement outcomes, but group formation and permanence is a key difference between various group learning instructional techniques. This study used data from eighth-grade Algebra 1 students in a rural, Title I junior high school. Longitudinal hierarchical linear modeling was used to determine to what degree team characteristics and perceived value of team member contributions predict students’ change in engagement over time. Our social network analysis revealed that students preferred to team with peers of the same biological sex and provide counterevidence to the notion that participation in alternating teams leads to the elimination of cliques and greater social cohesion in diverse mathematics classrooms.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/00220671.2025.2473414

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