GENDER COMPOSITION AND SMALL-GROUP LEARNING IN 4TH-GRADE MATHEMATICS

Fourth graders (N = 112; 50 boys and 62 girls) from 4 classrooms parti cipated in research on students' affective experiences and achievement outcomes in small-group learning in mathematics. Teachers designed an d implemented a study that examined students' reported affective exper iences in small groups associated with individual gender and group gen der configuration. Students' reported experiences and achievement were assessed after each of 6 lessons and again after a 10-day delay. In g eneral, students' reported personal experiences changed with increased exposure to their small group and were differently-adaptively-reconst ructed upon delayed reflection. There were no results associated with individual student gender; group gender configuration emerged as an im portant dimension in students' reported helping behavior and affective experiences. Considerations based upon these and other results are of fered that might be useful for teachers as they plan, enact, or reflec t on their experiences with small-group learning.