Math Congress: A Strategy to Promote Math Talk

This week we had the opportunity to participate in a math congress. This experience reminded me of the importance of encouraging student discourse in math class. I want to create a learning environment that encourages rich dialogue, sharing, and thinking so that my students can develop a deeper, more meaningful understanding of the concepts they are exploring.

Math Congress: What is it?

In Chapter 4 of Making Math Meaningful, Marian Small discusses the lesson strategy of a math congress. The goal of a math congress is to debrief the various strategies or big concepts that students use to solve a math problem. Before the actual congress takes place, students work in pairs or small groups to solve a math problem and write their solution on a chart-sized poster. Each group then holds a mini-congress with another group in order to share their work, check their answers, explain their thinking, and ask questions and give feedback about their peers’ strategies. For each group, one student is chosen as the leader. The leader’s responsibility is to facilitate the discussion and to ensure that every member of their group has a clear understanding of the strategies used. Once the mini-congresses have taken place, the whole class gathers for a large congress. In this session, the teacher strategically selects two or three groups to present their solutions and explain their thinking. The teacher chooses a variety of strategies that encourage students to see the key concepts, make mathematical generalizations, and understand the reasoning behind various mathematical strategies. Thus, the final congress session helps students to consolidate the information that has been presented throughout the various steps of the math congress.

Seeing Different Strategies of Problem-Solving

As we participated in the math congress, I was truly amazed to see all the different strategies or approaches to solving the math problem we were given about determining which store had the better deal on cat food. When we started the problem, I honestly thought there would only be two or three different ways to solve the problem. To my amazement, we saw at least six different ways of doing the math problem! One method involved creating fractions and finding a common denominator in order to compare the two fractions. Some groups did this by finding equivalent fractions that had a larger common denominator while other groups did this by reducing the fractions so that they had a smaller common denominator. Some students chose to found a common number of cans while other students chose to find a common dollar amount. Another method involved physically drawing the money out to determine how much money each can cost. Another method involved creating a ratio chart. It was an empowering and eye-opening experience that reminded me that I need to reinforce in my students the idea that there is never only one right method of solving a math problem.

Olij, B. © 2016

Olij, B. © 2016

Olij, B. © 2016

Olij, B. © 2016

Promoting Discourse and Deeper Understanding

I love the idea of incorporating a math congress into my math lessons! As a student in elementary school and high school, I had the tendency to stick to the strategy that worked for me without making a conscious effort to consider alternative methods. I also struggled with explaining my math reasoning; while I knew what I did, I did not always know why I did it. Students who participate in a math congress are not only presented with various strategies, they also have the opportunity to ask questions, seek clarifications, and provide feedback about these strategies. The sharing, reasoning, questioning, and explaining involved in a math congress promote an incredible amount of math talk! I love that the group leader has the responsibility to ensure that every member of their group has a clear understanding of the strategies used. This means that every student leaves the math congress having learned at least one other method of approaching a math problem. Every student leaves the congress feeling empowered as they understand not only every way a solution was found but also the reasoning and mathematical concepts behind these solutions.