1.

Post the link to your article and these response questions on your website under your new
"Student Teaching Inquiry Project Spring 2019" tab. (5 points)
• DONE
2. Your inquiry question (3 points)
• How can strategies for productive transitions between direct instruction and
purposeful pairing (or grouping) of students be used to improve engagement and
retention?
o Specifically curious about:
the transitions between instruction and interaction
methods for heterogeneous pairing
group work as an incentive
3. Why you chose this text and how it relates to your inquiry question (7 points)
• This text seems very relevant to my inquiry question, as it drives directly at the
reason for my interest in grouping: how can grouping be used to help raise up our
lower achieving students?
• Furthermore, this text is specifically examining the effects of heterogeneous and
homogeneous grouping as it applies to the math classroom, which is where I hope
to be teaching.
• The investigation also offers data on interesting factors such as student self-
actualization, self-concept in math, as well as their math ability on actual
assessments. These are all very important aspects to consider when observing a
student and trying to help them to succeed.
4. What useful information this text gives you about your inquiry question (10 points)
• Probably most useful for me at this stage in my own research is the development
of methods that the researcher used:
o Interview formats
o Assessment measures
o Categorization methods
• Additionally, this article was helpful in demonstrating empirically that different
grouping methods can achieve different purposes: heterogeneous for self-concept
and math assessment success; homogeneous for students who need to engage with
the material and do not initially like math class.
5. What useful ideas from the text you could apply to your own teaching and how you plan to
apply them. OR, if there is not anything you can apply to your teaching, explain why the
ideas in the text won’t apply to your teaching, classroom, students, or your school’s
community (10 points)
• I would like to vary up my usage of heterogeneous and homogeneous grouping
methods when they are most appropriate for the goal I am trying to achieve with
my class.
• I would like to do further research in to effective transition methods for grouping,
and how to manage grouping issues.
• I think that examining the data on high achieving students is also very important
as I have seen first-hand that high achieving students can often be frustrated by
heterogeneous grouping methods, and homogeneous grouping can actually allow
these students to access more complex and advanced material while low
achieving students work towards their own goals. We must help ALL of our
students achieve at the highest level possible!
6. Write the citation for your article in APA format (5 points)

Collins, C. (1989). Ability Grouping Effects on Lower Level Math Students’ Self-Concept and
Achievement. Retrieved from
https://fortlewis.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true
&db=eric&AN=ED362338&site=ehost-live&scope=site