Virtual math teams: virtual teams, real math

A 2004 report from the Pew Internet & American Life project indicates that 53 million American adults use instant messaging (IM), and its appeal is especially strong among younger Internet users. At the same time, according to the results of the 2003 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the performance in mathematics and problem solving of 15-year-old American students is lower than that of the average student in most of the 30 countries examined. Could these two trends be made to intersect? The Virtual Math Teams (VMT) project is an NSF-funded research program that investigates the innovative use of online collaborative environments to support effective K-12 mathematics learning. VMT implements a multidisciplinary approach to research and development that integrates (a) the quantitative modeling of students’ interactions online, (b) ethnographic and conversation analytical studies of collaborative problemsolving, and (c) an iterative process of software design (see related VMT posters). Key research issues addressed include: how to group students for effective online collaboration; how to design rich mathematical problems that foster collaboration and deep mathematical reasoning; how to structure the online collaborative experience; and how to study the forms of collaboration and reasoning that take place. Preliminary findings point to unique features of collaborative interactions such as the multidimensional aspects of interaction; the use of expository and exploratory talk; and also to challenges of coordinating the participants’ perspectives, resources, and strategies