These resources about complex instruction are part of our Being Collaborative collection.
Complex instruction is a teaching approach that has been promoted by Jo Boaler. In the resources below, you can find out more about the approach and its merits.
Jo Boaler introduces complex instruction in this video clip (this video also appears on Jo Boaler's youcubed website, along with a few other articles)
An example of Railside School students working on a group-worthy task is a short article by Jo Boaler, which shows the thinking of a Year 9 student when working on a pattern investigation.
How Complex Instruction led to High and Equitable Achievement: The Case of Railside School is a longer article by Jo Boaler, describing how a school in California has used complex instruction to make students' group work more effective and to promote equity in classrooms.
Complex Instruction in England - the journey, the new schools, and initial results is an article by Jo Boaler, Lori Altendorff and Geoff Kent which describes the early stages of supporting several schools in England with using the complex instruction approach to mathematics teaching.
Here are two video clips of classes in the UK working on Counting cogs using complex instruction.
Promoting student collaboration in a detracked (mixed ability), heterogeneous secondary mathematics classroom is an article by Megan Staples which analyses how one teacher created a classroom system which supported student collaboration within mixed ability groups. (If you are more interested in the findings than in the research methodology, you may want to read the introductory section and then skip to the results which begin at the bottom of page 15.)