As Ms. Carter’s fourth-grade students enter the door, they are divided into groups of four. While the students are not aware of the reasoning behind the groups, Ms. Carter engineered the groups to be homogenous based on specific skills. Once in his or her group, each student receives a number from one to four. Then, the students are directed to move into four groups by joining the others with the same number. Once in these groups, the students are assigned a portion of the lesson’s instructional materials to become “experts” on. Once they have developed their expertise, they then return to their original groups and teach the content to their peers. This cooperative learning structure is often referred to as Numbered Heads Together. Ms. Carter’s main purpose for using this structure is most likely:
