Reciprocal peer tutoring: a future tool for teaching in Dutch secondary education?

Secondary Education: ”Dendroncollege”, Horst aan de Maas, The Netherlands

HAVO/VWO HAVO "higher general continued education“ -provides access to HBO (universities of applied sciences) Atheneum Gymnasium Latin + Greek VWO "preparatory scholarly education“ -provides access to WO (research universities) VWO+ extra subjects VMBO_TL "theoretical learning path“ -provides access MBO level of tertiary education and HAVO Metalectro VMBO-KL "middle management- oriented learning path" Care and Welfare Building, Living, Interior design VMBO-BB "basic profession- oriented learning path" VMBO "preparatory middle-level applied education"

Participants N = 516 Six teachers who teach mathemactics are involved in the intervention. Every teacher has one or more Reciprocal Peer Tutoring-groups and a Controle-group from the same level and departement. SEX Mean Age FemaleMale RPT Group ,53 Control Group ,64 Totale ,58

Levene's Test for Equality of Variances interventionNMeanFSig. (2-tailed) T1Control group 2407,192 RPT group 2707,022,153,696,235 T2Control group 2357,117 RPT group 2697,3762,053,153,065 Independent Samples Test

Why Reciprocal Peer Tutoring at our school? Great diversity: ‘Law for Suitable Education” (children with learning- and/or emotional disabilities) More complete development of students’ capabilities in education More differentiation in the Class (different levels and interests) Better results in performance for mathematics Increased motivation for mathematics,

According to the literature Reciprocal Peer Tutoring works: Largest effect with students with learning and/or emotional problems Works for all students Reciprocal Peer Tutoring improves performance for direct as well as indirect learning effects Increases selfesteem Works for mathematics Knowledge building instead of knowledge telling

The method I’m going to use and how I will use it.

 K......” knowledge-review questions”  I… “intelligent-questions”  N…..“probing-questions”; ………..need to understand better questions  H…..” hint questions “  T…...“Self-Monitoring questions” ……;thinking about thinking questions  T tell………. Tell your partner what you know.  E explain…. Explain why and how, don’t just give the answer.  L link………. Make a connection between your explanation and what your partner already knows.  W tell Why…  H tell How…  Y use Your own words… King A.(1997) Ask to Think - TEL WHY Figure 1

Research shows that effective tutor behavior and skills Questioning. Elaborate explanation. Supportive communication. can promote learning in tutorial contexts.

These behaviors will be trained in a tutor/tutee instruction previous to the intervention. The instruction will provide some interactive and metacognitive skills. Interactive skills are: Questioning Elaborate explaining Activating the knowledge of your partner. Metacognitive skills are: Orienting and predicting. Planning. Monitoring. Evaluating.

UnitDuration 3 VMBO BB2 x 50 min x 12 weeks 3 VMBO KL3 x 50 min x 12 weeks 3 VMBO TL 4 x 50 min x 11 weeks 3 HAVO 3 x 50 min x 10 weeks 4 VMBO KL 3 x 50 min x 11 weeks 4 VMBO TL4 x 50 min x 12 weeks Table 2: Duration of Reciprocal Peer Tutoring.

Reciprocal Peer Tutoring-Group Control-Group Lesson planning ( 50 min lesson)  5 min: administration and starting the lesson.  15 min: instruction and answering questions  25 min: peer tutoring, the student dyads start to solve the problems as mentioned in their study guide. During peer tutoring they use their question cards.  *A problems; student A is the tutor and student B is the tutee. Role change. *B problems; student B is the tutor and student A is the tutee If there are any problems the students can ask the teacher for help. There are also general questions for both students. They make and correct them at home.  5 min: Closure of the lesson and homework for the next lesson. Lesson planning ( 50 min lesson)  5 min: administration and starting the lesson.  15 min: instruction and discussing the homework.  25 min: The students make their homework for the next lesson. They are allowed to cooperate with their neighbor, voluntary, without question cards. The teacher assists and answers possible questions.  5 min: Closure of the lesson and homework for the next lesson.

Interview with students, math-teacher, and management.

What do I hope to achieve?  The literature suggests that I can expect: A significant improvement of the performance for mathematics. An improvement in the motivation for mathematics. The improvement in the motivation for mathematics will contribute to the improvement of performance for mathematics. That reciprocal peer tutoring works with no regards to which teacher is teaching. Every student benefits from reciprocal peer tutoring with no regards to his/her ability or in which grade he/she is. I also hope to find: That it is useful for all disciplines within mathematics. That it is possible to use reciprocal peer tutoring as a training method for graduation exams.  An empirical evaluation will be available by March 2016

Is reciprocal peer tutoring a tool for differentiation in education and in providing suitable education for every level of learning capability?