This is a write-up about a classroom activity I did back in February, stolen directly from Avery Pickford (who I believe stole at least part of it from someone else... thanks open-source teaching) at a #MTBoSBA tweetup.
The set-up was that students were separated into groups of 4. Two students in each group were designated as the mathematicians, and the other two students were the recorders. They were given four minutes, during which the two mathematicians were supposed to talk through a problem, and the recorders were supposed to write down everything that the mathematicians said. I made strong suggestions that the mathematicians should say everything that comes to mind, not worrying about whether they said something wrong. And the recorders should not speak during this time. They only write down what the other two are saying. After these four minutes, I would call time, and the mathematicians and recorders switch roles. Now the people who were previously recording become the mathematicians, and they start working on the problem, and the mathematicians have to turn their mouths off and become listeners and recorders for another four-minute round.
