Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces (VNPS)

What Is Visibly Randomized Group Learning at VNPS (Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces) and What Is Its Rationale?

Visibly randomized group learning at VNPS is one of the teaching practices introduced in Dr. Peter Liljedahl's Building Thinking Classrooms.  It is about assigning students to random groups every class and letting them know that the grouping is purely random.  According to Dr. Liljedahl's research, if this happens, the social and academic hierarchies that shape classroom learning will be broken, and knowledge mobility within the classroom will emerge.  There will also be no single group that has a monopoly on the answer.

How Does Visibly Randomized Grouping Work?

Mr. Ho uses Flippity to visibly generate random groups of students for each class.  Here are some examples of the visibly randomized groups:

How to Collaborate in Group Settings?

To make group learning meaningful, Mr. Ho teaches his students how to collaborate.  This idea came from Dr. Peter Liljedahl, who talked about the difference between taking turns to do the group work at vertical whiteboards and collaborating.  Dr. Liljedahl suggested that students in groups need to "talk first and write second. " This would bring all students in groups to collaborate with each other to solve the math problems.  Mr. Ho used Dr. Liljedahl's idea to teach his students to "talk first and write second" when they were at the vertical whiteboards for in-class questions.  Below is a diagram that Dr. Liljedahl summarizes this teaching practice.

Pictures that Show Students Talking to Each Other First

Pictures that Show Students Writing their Solutions Second

Other Pictures that Show Students Learning with Each Other in Random Groups

How Did Students Feel About this Visibly Randomized Group Learning Approach at VNPS?

Mr. Ho gave each student a self-reflection survey to complete at the end of the random group learning at VNPS.  Here are the responses from his students in his three sections of grade 12 math (i.e., two MDM4U1s and one MCV4U1). 

How Did Mr. Ho Feel About this Visibly Randomized Group Learning Approach at VNPS?

Mr. Ho attended many Math PD workshops organized by the TDSB central math team and had firsthand experience with this visibly randomized group-learning approach at VNPS.  Based on his experience, he found that when he got up from his seat to solve math problems at the VNPS with his colleagues, he was able to actively engage throughout the activity.  However, if he sat down at a table to solve math problems with his colleagues, he became easily disengaged and did not feel like doing any work.  

When Mr. Ho instructed his students to work at VNPS, he overheard many great conversations among them.  In some groups, he heard his students asking each other questions that clarified concepts taught by Mr. Ho in his introductory lesson.  In other groups, he heard his students arguing about what they were asked to do in a math problem.  He also heard his students explaining their methods of solving the math questions to each other.  

When the class was almost at the end, Mr. Ho instructed his students to return to their seats, but some resisted.  Instead, they stayed at the VNPS and tried to finish solving the math problems.  From these,  Mr. Ho saw and felt that learning did happen in each group throughout the class.  Mr. Ho also pointed out to his students that this was what he wanted to see and hear when they were working in groups at VNPS.