Supporting metacognitive talk during collaborative problem solving: A case study in Scottish primary school mathematics

This small-scale study explored the presence of collaborative metacognitive talk (CMT) during collaborative problem solving (CPS) in a Scottish primary mathematics class. Content analysis was conducted on student and teacher group interactions during CPS (n=12 students in 3 groups x 3 sessions). The largest proportion of CMT was teacher-student, suggesting the use of a dyadic teaching approach between teacher and student as opposed the teacher facilitating student-student CMT. A teacher focus group provided some tentative explanations as to why the dyadic approach might be adopted over a facilitative role to support student-student CMT, including: focussing on strategy use, school culture around CPS, and teacher beliefs about learners’ abilities. Implications for practice are discussed.