The inextricable intertwining of communication and higher order mathematical thinking
Résumé
We investigate the effect of unsupervised communicative collaboration among students in an introductory university mathematics course on their ability to solve unfamiliar problems. We examined how the study habits of 39 teacher students throughout one semester relate to their performance on unfamiliar mathematical problems during an exam. Our findings suggest that a direct relationship between increased effort and improved outcomes is not always present. Increased individual study time only positively impacts performance in tasks focused on reproducing mathematical concepts and applying routines. In contrast, increased communicative collaboration between the students during the semester seems to improve the ability to solve tasks that require higher order thinking skills. We discuss potential consequences for university mathematics education and highlight emerging research questions from our results.
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