Research and Innovation: Supporting mathematical thinking through sustained shared thinking.
Mathematical thinking is at the heart of mathematics and supporting learners of all ages to develop their mathematical thinking includes allocating time and attention to talk. Sustained shared thinking has been identified as significantly contributing to outcomes for children in the early years and we believe it is relevant to all age groups as it has the potential to support both oracy and mathematical thinking. Sustained shared thinking is about genuine interest in collaboratively exploring the thinking that a learner brings to a situation. This RIWG builds on an RIWG that ran in 2023/4 and is open to all.
What is involved?
Work Groups follow a workshop – school-based action research cycle. Various approaches and strategies will be discussed, incorporated into the participants’ existing plans and resources, trialled, and evaluated.
What are the benefits?
✔Students share their thinking and show improved language skills in mathematics, and greater awareness of the importance of their thinking.
✔Participants identify the approaches and strategies which will support mathematical thinking through sustained shared thinking.
The Wider Context
We will start with sharing learning from last year where we made connections between exploratory talk, dialogic teaching and sustained shared thinking, and then explore how to provide opportunities for sustained shared thinking in any class. The aims of the group will be to identify opportunities in maths lessons for sustained shared thinking, collect rich examples from different age groups and capture key teacher moves that support sustained shared thinking.
Expectations of participants and their schools
Schools must be able to commit to the full academic year’s programme. This involves a total of five online workgroup sessions across the academic year, as well as classroom and school-based activity. Participants must also be supported by their school leadership to explore outcomes from the project with other colleagues in their department.
This RIWG builds on an RIWG that ran in 2023/4 and a summary of their finding can be seen below:
Participation is free for teachers from state-funded schools. Cover expenses will need to be funded by each school, as necessary.
Workshops will take place on the following dates:
| Date | Time | Location |
| 28th Nov 2024 | 13:30 – 16:00 | Online |
| 16th Jan 2025 | 16:00 – 17:15 | Online |
| 27th Feb 2025 | 16:00 – 17:15 | Online |
| 30th April 2025 | 16:00 – 17:15 | Online |
| 19th May 2025 | 13:30 – 16:00 | Online |
