Uri Treisman and Mathematics Study Groups. Uri Treisman is not your average college math instructor. In the late 1970’s, working at the University of California, Berkeley, he developed a powerful method to reduce the drop-out rate among African American and Latino students in Introductory Calculus, one of the most difficult courses in the university and the gateway into math and science related professions.
Treisman, trained as a mathematician, played cultural anthropologist for a number of months to get clues into how his Black, Asian, Caucasian, Latino students lived and learned. He soon discovered that the Black and Latino tended to study alone, while their Asian counterparts studied in groups. The Asian students, Treisman observed, would critique each other, and draw on tests from previous years’ tests that had been handed down from one generation to another. The Asian students also kept at it, critiquing each other until they got it right, embracing what Treisman likes to call, “math is struggle.”
Armed with this discovery, he put his insights into action by placing his underperforming students into study groups under the aegis of the University. He also was mindful of the importance of status, calling these groups “honors” rather than “remedial.” And he utilized such tried-and-true channels as a “gathering place” and a regularly scheduled “time-slots.”
The Black and Latino students’ grades increased to the level of their white and Asian counterparts. And their college drop-out rate decreased to the same level as white and Asian counterparts. Through study groups he was also able to counteract some of the most deep-seated and habitual attributional habits that Black and Latino students can experience – what today we might call “stereotype threat.”
This is by no means the entire story. As a member of Treisman’s current team at UT Austin observes, “it would be incorrect to conclude that inexpensive study groups alone drove success. To be sure, the Treisman model is more complex, as it involves carefully selected and sequenced mathematics problems, a cadre of highly trained teaching assistants and numerous design choices to create a sense of belonging and self-efficacy for all his students.”
All of this underscores another fundamental tenet of social entrepreneurship. When you link your efforts with the expertise of experts in their fields, positive change can be turbo-charged. Well-designed and executed groups can change students from within.
This is an example of a “group approach to change.
Treisman, trained as a mathematician, played cultural anthropologist for a number of months to get clues into how his Black, Asian, Caucasian, Latino students lived and learned. He soon discovered that the Black and Latino tended to study alone, while their Asian counterparts studied in groups. The Asian students, Treisman observed, would critique each other, and draw on tests from previous years’ tests that had been handed down from one generation to another. The Asian students also kept at it, critiquing each other until they got it right, embracing what Treisman likes to call, “math is struggle.”
Armed with this discovery, he put his insights into action by placing his underperforming students into study groups under the aegis of the University. He also was mindful of the importance of status, calling these groups “honors” rather than “remedial.” And he utilized such tried-and-true channels as a “gathering place” and a regularly scheduled “time-slots.”
The Black and Latino students’ grades increased to the level of their white and Asian counterparts. And their college drop-out rate decreased to the same level as white and Asian counterparts. Through study groups he was also able to counteract some of the most deep-seated and habitual attributional habits that Black and Latino students can experience – what today we might call “stereotype threat.”
This is by no means the entire story. As a member of Treisman’s current team at UT Austin observes, “it would be incorrect to conclude that inexpensive study groups alone drove success. To be sure, the Treisman model is more complex, as it involves carefully selected and sequenced mathematics problems, a cadre of highly trained teaching assistants and numerous design choices to create a sense of belonging and self-efficacy for all his students.”
All of this underscores another fundamental tenet of social entrepreneurship. When you link your efforts with the expertise of experts in their fields, positive change can be turbo-charged. Well-designed and executed groups can change students from within.
This is an example of a “group approach to change.