… the gallery walk makes public the work of mathematicians and brings them into dialogue about their thinking... and how they will justify their ideas to a larger mathematical community.
Imm, Fosnot, Dolk, Jacob, & Stylianou 2012, p. 46
The gallery walk is not a ‘show-and-tell’ activity, for students to simply share their work and comment on how it looks! The gallery walk is a tool which gives all students the opportunity to critically view and review their class’s mathematical activity. In real life, mathematicians share their work with the mathematical community through conferences and publishing in mathematical journals. The gallery walk is an engaging opportunity for students to be mathematicians together.
The best time to use a gallery walk is after the Explore phase and before the whole class discussion, in the Connect phase of the task. Student understandings of the task are still fresh in their minds at this point in the lesson as they have just explored the task. The teacher asks students to present their mathematical activity (e.g. as a poster), using representations, images and symbols, so that other students can see their thinking. Using this recording process gives students a chance to think about which mathematical ideas they want to share and the most meaningful way to present these ideas for public scrutiny.
Before your students set off on the gallery walk, encourage them to reflect on their own experience of the task, to focus their attention on the mathematics they may expect to see in the posters. You can prompt students to recall what they have explored during the task, and to view others’ work in light of this.
During the gallery walk, the role of students is that of a critical audience. They move around the classroom like they are in an art gallery, in silence or whispering with a partner. The purpose of this activity is for them to notice how similar or different others’ work is to their own.
As students view and read others’ posters, they record relevant comments and questions about the mathematics onto sticky notes, which they put on the posters. Your role is to encourage students to take their time to read the work of the other students, as well as remind them to be respectful when they write comments. Students should include positive comments as well as critical ones, and sign their comments, as members of their class mathematical community, to show ownership of them.
A gallery walk provides time for each student to reflect on and revisit the task. It allows students to see how others approached the problem, as well as providing opportunity for them to make alterations to their own solutions. During the whole class discussion, you can use the sticky notes as a source of student feedback to explore your students’ mathematical thinking more deeply and call upon individuals to clarify their comments.
Discuss with your colleagues:
- What is something that stands out for you in the gallery walk? Why?
- How is this description of a gallery walk similar and different to other activities you use in your class to make the mathematics visible?
References
Fosnot, C. T., & Jacob, B. (2010). Young Mathematicians at Work: Constructing Algebra. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. 1906 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191-1502.
Imm, K. L., Fosnot, C. T., Dolk, M., Jacob, B., & Stylianou, D. (2012). Learning to support young mathematicians at work: An early algebra resource for professional development. Heinemann.