The NCTM curriculum standards use the term discourse to describe the interchanges that occur. "Like a piece of music, the classroom discourse has themes that pull together to create a whole that has meaning. The teacher has a central role in orchestrating the oral and written discourse in ways that contribute to students' understanding." [23] Emphasis on active dialogue transforms classrooms from teacher-centered environments to student-centered environments.

For years science teachers organized students into groups for laboratory work before the relationship between classroom setting and learning became a serious consideration. Laboratory (or experiential) activities in both mathematics and science lend themselves quite naturally to group work. However, techniques used in the laboratory are also applicable to classroom situations. For instance, in a group problem-solving situation there might be a logical division of labor with students assuming differentiated roles or sharing responsibilities. Considerable research has documented the effectiveness of group work. (See Slavin and Johnson and Johnson. [24] ) We have learned from business and industry as well as from education that in effective groups every group member must contribute. We have also learned that, as the diversity among the group members increases, so too does the elaborative thinking and the give-and-take in explanations. Within heterogeneous groups a broader perspective seems to prevail in the discussions increasing the depth of understanding, the quality of reasoning, and the accuracy of long-term reasoning.

Group activities have other advantages in a classroom. Because students construct their own understanding in different ways, it is beneficial to provide all students with different kinds of learning experiences. The particular contribution to learning that small group work brings is the enhanced potential for students to clarify, debate, defend, elaborate, and evaluate with one another. "The negotiation and consensus building that are possible in ... groups suggest that teachers should give serious consideration to employing [such] learning strategies when they consider it appropriate." [25]