Social Construction of Mathematics Understanding among Student Peers in Small Group Settings

The purpose of this review of literature is to investigate what kinds of research have been done on social construction of mathematics understanding among elementary students in small groups. Only empirical studies were reviewed, and then grouping was done in terms of the purpose of the study. This grouping identified three categories: 1) Social and mathematical norms in mathematics classroom, 2) Teaching productive communication behaviors for active learning in small group, and 3) Participation roles and communication behaviors in different group structure. To enhance social construction of mathematics understanding in small group settings two suggestions are made: the importance of the selection of collaborative tasks or problems and teachers' beliefs about mathematics and the teaching an learning of mathematics.