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Group work and giving students time to discuss their work helps to build their confidence in using math in science lessons, a new study shows.

Researchers have found that discussion is important because students use different ways to solve problems, even if they have been in the same class, taught by the same teacher.

The research is in the International Journal of Science Education.

Previous analysis has shown students often find it difficult to use math in science, even if they have been successful in mathematics courses. This new study identifies four different ways students attempt to solve math problems in science, even when in the same class.

Opportunities within the classroom to talk, discuss and construct answers collectively to quantitative problems are likely to be as valuable as with any other kind of science learning.

The study was carried out by Victoria Wong, Taro Fujita, Alison Hill and Stuart Ruffle from the University of Exeter.

Dr. Wong said, "Our research shows the impact of the different modes of thinking students have. Some are happy to accept numerical answers; others want to understand what they mean and relate to science. Each can lead to successful outcomes and solutions.

"Identifying these patterns in student discourse is an important step towards understanding how students bring mathematics and science together in problem solving.

"Giving students the opportunity to work through problems in groups exposes them to different ways of thinking about the problem than they might have engaged with had they worked on their own. Learning science is about learning to use scientific words, and talk and discussion among students in the classroom is critical to supporting them in developing their use of this language, including mathematical language.

"Learning science is a process of learning the language of science, including words, diagrams, equations and symbols, and using them in a recognizably scientific way."

Some students who took part in the research showed science-dominant thinking—they used science knowledge to drive math calculations and tried to relate everything back to science. Others did the same with math—they were interested in numbers and less keen on relating that back to the science-specific situation.

Other students were most keen on searching for the right equation. They wanted to pull out all the different pieces of information and try and work out how to fit them together. This led to their work becoming less systematic and taking longer. Others had a mental schema: They had a clear idea about how to solve the problem, which made them faster and more confident.

Researchers interviewed students in groups and encouraging them to talk to each other as they worked through problems was a successful strategy to gain insight into students' thinking processes.

The 21 students—six undergraduate bioscience students and 15 Year 10 and 11 pupils—were interviewed in six small groups of three or four for between 25 and 40 minutes. The interviews consisted of a series of science problems which used mathematical ideas. The interviews were video- and audio-recorded. Students were given large sheets of paper and each a different colored pen and encouraged to write, note or draw anything they wished as they solved the problems.