Undergraduate students’ collaboration on homework problems in advanced mathematics courses

Abstract

While mathematicians and mathematics education researchers have acknowledged the importance of undergraduate mathematics students’ learning outside of class time, little is known about what students actually do. The aim of this study is to examine one aspect of students’ out-of-class learning: their collaboration with peers on homework problems. Ten interviews with recent graduates of mathematics degrees were conducted and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. We examine participants’ descriptions of how they collaborated on homework problems and with whom. Additionally, we explore their perceptions of the affordances of collaborating on homework, as well as the factors they perceive as constraining their engagement in the practice. Our study is an initial step towards developing a more complete understanding of undergraduate mathematics students’ engagement with homework problems and out-of-class learning practices more generally. We discuss the implications of our findings in terms of guiding future research.