The role of the debating reviewer to promote communication and dialogic learning within and between thinking groups

Research argues that engaging students in cooperative problem-solving activities in which every student plays a role within a thinking group is a promising way to consolidate mathematical knowledge through communication and social interaction. To make this strategy more powerful, we introduce a new performer, the Debating Reviewer, which stimulates the debate within a group during the solving process as well as between groups in the final reflective phase. We face the issue of promoting students’ dialogic learning through interactions, discourses, and reflections. In this paper, a preliminary investigation of students’ perceptions of the new role is given.Research argues that engaging students in cooperative problem-solving activities in which every student plays a role within a thinking group is a promising way to consolidate mathematical knowledge through communication and social interaction. To make this strategy more powerful, we introduce a new performer, the Debating Reviewer, which stimulates the debate within a group during the solving process as well as between groups in the final reflective phase. We face the issue of promoting students’ dialogic learning through interactions, discourses, and reflections. In this paper, a preliminary investigation of students’ perceptions of the new role is given.