Overview
Students work on whiteboards collaboratively to solve math problems together. By co-constructing solutions in real time, students engage in discussion and teamwork. This low-stakes, interactive approach boosts engagement, supports belonging, and deepens understanding through peer explanation.
Through this practice you will be able to:
- Gain real-time insight into student thinking.
- Increase student engagement and participation.
- Build classroom community.
- Foster student engagement through math discourse and communication.
Materials
- Large whiteboards, table-sized dry-erase boards, or easel chart paper (or digital whiteboarding tools such as Desmos Whiteboard)
- Dry-erase markers and erasers or chart markers; you may want to offer assorted colors to distinguish student contributions
- Pre-selected math task(s) that allow for collaboration and multiple steps or representations
Day Before Prep (~45 min)
Select a Task (5-15 minutes): Choose a math problem or set of problems that require reasoning and representation (e.g., diagrams, equations, graphs) and has multiple possible solution paths. Solve the task yourself from a student's perspective. As you work through it, ask yourself:
- What strategies might students use?
- What concepts or steps could be confusing?
- Where might students get stuck or offer unexpected ideas?
Prepare materials (5 minutes): Test markers, wipe down whiteboards, or create shared digital workspaces.
Group Students (5-10 minutes): Decide groupings (pairs or trios work well for even contributions).
Develop Student Supports (10-15 minutes): Create sentence stems or prompts to encourage collaborative dialogue (e.g., "What do you think about…?" or "Let's try another way to…") or adapt the Collaboration Worksheet
- Optional: Prepare or review pair or group work norms, such as listening respectfully, working as a team, staying on topic, and offering constructive feedback
- Optional: Prepare to model what effective collaboration looks and sounds like as you introduce the activity.
Conducting the Practice (35-50 min)
Introduce the Task (5-10 minutes): Present the task clearly. Emphasize that this activity is a time to collaborate with their peers and work together to solve different problems. Here is sample language:
"Today we will be using whiteboards together as a chance for everyone to share ideas, test strategies, and work as a team to solve math problems. Through this opportunity you will make your thinking visible, which strengthens both our community and your voice in math."
Set Expectations (5 minutes): Explain the goal of working collaboratively and that the whiteboard is a shared space for experimenting, revising, and discussing math ideas. Share that you will be looking for writing, drawing, talking, graphing, and other relevant forms of expression.
- Optional: Discuss class norms around respectful and collaborative conversations
- Optional: Model what effective collaboration looks and sounds like and explain that you will be listening out for this as you walk around.
Launch the Task (5 minutes): Present the problem clearly and give groups access to whiteboards or digital spaces. Reiterate that all group members should be engaged and ready to explain the group's thinking. Optional: One marker per group to encourage "passing the marker" to show other people's thinking. Alternatively, you may want each student to have their own color so you can clearly see the contributions of each person.
Work Time (15-25 minutes): Circulate and observe. Prompt deeper thinking by asking questions or highlighting interesting approaches. Encourage groups to write and draw as they talk by prompting students, e.g., "Hey, why don't you write while the others are talking?" If groups finish early, ask them to solve another way.
- Optional: Write good quotes you hear from students in a place the class can see to encourage collaboration.
Sharing and Discussion (5-10 minutes): Have groups present part of their work to the class or walk around to view each others' boards (e.g., a mini gallery walk, could be silent). Facilitate a brief class discussion to compare strategies or clarify misunderstandings.
Reflect (5 minutes): Ask students to reflect individually or in groups, asking what they learned, what surprised them, or how their group approached the problem.
Pitfalls to Avoid
- One student dominating the work: Encourage role-sharing or use color-coded markers to ensure participation.
- Whiteboards turning into "final answer" spaces: Emphasize that whiteboards are for thinking, not perfection—erasing and revision are expected.
- Tasks that are too simple or procedural: Choose problems that require discussion, representation, or multiple steps.
- Lack of discussion norms: Without clear expectations, students may work in silence or get off-task. Set norms for talking, listening, and shared ownership.
- Insufficient structure: Without a time frame or clear roles, collaboration can stall. Use timers or assign rotating roles like "recorder," "explainer," or "questioner."
What to Look For
- All students participating and contributing to the board
- Visible evidence of problem-solving strategies (drawings, equations, revisions)
- Mathematical dialogue; students asking and answering each other's questions
- Productive struggle and group perseverance through challenges
- Groups explaining their reasoning using shared visuals
Additional Inspiration
- 360 Degree Whiteboards: Blog Post on the use of Whiteboards in Math Class
- Improve Student Thinking in the Classroom Using Vertical Whiteboard Teaching: Blog Post with benefits and tips
- Sketchnote about the Benefits of Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces in Math Classes
- Building Thinking Classrooms: Book by Peter Liljedahl
This practice was developed in collaboration with WestEd.