Incorporating Tarsia to Foster Student Collaboration in the Mathematics Classroom

Abstract

It is evident that we will be able to retain and apply more knowledge into practice if we have spent more time in reviewing and practicing. Active student practice and consistent review are the key components of mastery learning. However, in Mathematics teaching, some of the commonly used instructional approaches such as “Practice on the blackboard” and “Assignment of homework” contradict the above mentioned key elements of content mastery. In view of this, our study aims to examine the effectiveness of an interactive activity, Tarsia. Tarsia allows students to elicit the characteristics of fun and playfulness while ensuring enough practices are obtained. Our results have shown that students view Tarsia as an interesting activity which enables them to develop new knowledge as well as promoting collaborative skills among the team members. Collaboration, is one of the four 21st century skills proposed by National Education Association (NEA) as the important skills to possess in order to succeed in the constantly changing 21st century.