10 Traits of a Group-worthy Task

They’re accountable. Relevant. Complex. And they won’t just help math teachers.

1. Multiple entry points. All students should have access to solving and learning from the problem, regardless of their current mathematics understanding.


2. Multiple perspectives. Student groups are encouraged to develop their own strategies for solving problems.


3. Multiple representations. The problem may be open-ended with more than one correct solution, and students may use a variety of end products to explain their mathematical understanding.


4. Accountability. Individual and group accountability are key to engaging students in the task and assessing student learning.


5. Relevancy. Problems posed must be meaningful for student motivation and application of content knowledge.


6. Complexity. The problem requires students to pool their knowledge of prior learning to explore new concepts.


7. Discipline-based content. The mathematical concepts necessary to solve the problem should address rigorous mathematical content.


8. Collaboration. All members of the group must participate in the interpretation, problem solving, and communication of ideas.


9. Clear evaluation criteria. Students must know what is required of them in terms of content understanding and group responsibility.


10. Multi-layered components. The task is not routine and does not allow for a quick solution. Rather, it should support connected thinking throughout the task.