ENACTMENT OF HIGH COGNITIVE DEMAND TASKS ENGAGES STUDENT GROUPS IN HIGHER- AND LOWER-DEMAND COGNITION.

Productive small-group work begins with the selection and implementation of higher-demand tasks focused on procedures with connections or doing mathematics. Previous research has established factors that result in maintenance and decline of task demands. In developing an instrument for documenting evolution of demands in small groups, we identified two limitations of the Mathematics Task Framework: higher-demand tasks also involve lower-demand elements, and students engage in both higher- and lower-level cognitive work when engaging with higherdemand tasks, without the overall demand necessarily declining. We share a promising instrument for documenting evolution of students’ engagement with various task demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]