Case Studies

last updated:February 2010

Case studies
We have chosen five case studies, all conducted by teachers, which illustrate aspects of the findings of the study, covering the teaching and learning of mathematics with a collaborative discussion based focus:

• the first study shows how a school incorporated discussion and collaboration into its new mathematics curriculum after trialling new practice and consulting key Stage 4 students;
• the second study shows the striking impact on retention achieved when one school decided to make its A-level teaching more active and collaborative;
• the third study demonstrates how three teachers improved the quality and depth of student mathematics talk in pairs, by modelling that talk and planning good practice;
• the fourth case study is of how, in one mathematics department, teachers' beliefs in the importance of discussion were changed as a result of introducing enquiry based practice; and
• the fifth study describes how teachers from a group of schools used a collaborative CPD model to make mathematics more active and discussion orientated for students.