This project was a partnership between three graduate students from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Andromeda Math Partners (AMP) to set out and explore how relationships play a role in learning during one-on-one virtual math tutoring sessions. The tutors are part of the Andromeda Math Partners (AMP) program, a joint effort between Andromeda Education and Enliven Learning Partners. AMP offers free math tutoring to underserved students in grades 7-12 in the San Francisco Bay Area. These tutors are skilled educators who focus on helping students develop metacognitive skills and are trained to connect with each student individually. They also use strategies that support students’ overall growth, including motivation, confidence, and mindset, along with improving math skills.
Using the Simple Interactions tools, we looked closely at the human connections that happen during these math tutoring sessions. This tool helped us describe and understand how people interact in these settings. After gathering our findings, we shared them in a professional development session with the tutors, having them reflect on their interactions and think about how they can strengthen the relationships they build with their students.
During this process, we reviewed five videos of math tutoring sessions between Andromeda Math Partners tutors and students and analyzed their interactions. Throughout the analysis process, we had two questions in mind: 1) What makes these human interactions “human” in a virtual, one-on-one tutoring space? We define human interactions as organic responses to people’s verbal and nonverbal cues. 2) How can identifying and discussing “human” interactions, both directly and indirectly related to math, be used in adult learning? We were interested in how these interactions might be helpful for tutors and influence their practices. These two different objectives for analyzing human interactions in tutoring directed our focus for this project, helping us gain insight into the relational aspects of learning in a 1:1 environment and how they can be used in adult learning spaces.
Let’s walk through the process we used when reviewing the video footage. We also used this process with the AMP tutors during the professional development session. In the clip below, the tutor is working with the student on writing inverse, converse, and contrapositive statements. Now it’s your turn to watch the video. When watching the video, try to not make assumptions or think about what the tutor could have, should have, or would have done. Just watch and notice what the tutor and student are doing in the video. You will watch the video two times. For the first viewing, try not to take any notes and watch the video for the interactions. For the second viewing, take notes of your noticings and think about “Where does the student need support, academic or otherwise?” and “What does the tutor do to support the student?”.
Using the Simple Interactions tools, we looked closely at the human connections that happen during these math tutoring sessions. This tool helped us describe and understand how people interact in these settings. After gathering our findings, we shared them in a professional development session with the tutors, having them reflect on their interactions and think about how they can strengthen the relationships they build with their students.
During this process, we reviewed five videos of math tutoring sessions between Andromeda Math Partners tutors and students and analyzed their interactions. Throughout the analysis process, we had two questions in mind: 1) What makes these human interactions “human” in a virtual, one-on-one tutoring space? We define human interactions as organic responses to people’s verbal and nonverbal cues. 2) How can identifying and discussing “human” interactions, both directly and indirectly related to math, be used in adult learning? We were interested in how these interactions might be helpful for tutors and influence their practices. These two different objectives for analyzing human interactions in tutoring directed our focus for this project, helping us gain insight into the relational aspects of learning in a 1:1 environment and how they can be used in adult learning spaces.
Let’s walk through the process we used when reviewing the video footage. We also used this process with the AMP tutors during the professional development session. In the clip below, the tutor is working with the student on writing inverse, converse, and contrapositive statements. Now it’s your turn to watch the video. When watching the video, try to not make assumptions or think about what the tutor could have, should have, or would have done. Just watch and notice what the tutor and student are doing in the video. You will watch the video two times. For the first viewing, try not to take any notes and watch the video for the interactions. For the second viewing, take notes of your noticings and think about “Where does the student need support, academic or otherwise?” and “What does the tutor do to support the student?”.
What did you see in the video? What did you notice in the video? What are you wondering about the interaction?
Here were some of our noticings:
- Krishann gives student time to work on problem on her own
- Krishann asking student if they are sure once they give their answer
- Student takes time to think about problem again before replying with answer
- Krishann responded with “Good Job! Don't let me trick you. Be bold! I like it”
- Student and Krishann laughing with one another
- Krishann referencing the Princess and the Frog while reading the problem, student responds with a smile
- Krishann again asks students if their response is correct
- When the student gets the problem wrong, they said they tried and then Krishann asks, “What did we say about converse?”
- Student takes time to look at notes and then explains why they got the problem wrong
Maybe some of these were your noticings too. Or maybe you have noticings that we did not list. This video clip had many impactful interactions. After reviewing the footage and taking notes of our noticings, we would use the three dimensions in the Simple Interactions Tool (Connection, Reciprocity, and Opportunity to Grow) to describe the type of interaction. For this video clip, we see examples of connection when both tutor and student are laughing with one another and smiling in the video. For reciprocity, we see that the student responds to the tutors' questions like when the student stands by their answer after being asked if they are sure about their solution. For opportunity to grow, the tutor allows the student to try the problems on their own and when they make a mistake, the tutor provides questions to help the student see where they made their mistake and how to correct it. We went through a similar process in using the SI tool to analyze the different interactions for each tutor and then compare the interactions across tutors to see what themes emerged.
Three themes emerged from our analysis of the video footage, providing helpful categories for contextualizing relational elements at work in the learning process: “Being Known”, “Cognitive +” and “Warm Accountability”. Depending on the interaction, it might fall into one, two, or all three themes so we used a Venn Diagram to represent the overlap in themes with the student/tutor interactions.
For the Cognitive+ category human tutors didn't just focus on teaching math; they also emphasized emotional regulation, critical thinking, question formulation, accessing background knowledge, making connections, verbalizing math thinking, and celebrating successes. In each session viewed, the tutor not only confirmed the student's answer but also encouraged confidence and celebrated correct responses, fostering emotional growth and modeling a thoughtful decision-making process. For example, in Krishann's video, the student supplies an answer and she prompts "Are you sure?" The student hesitates, thinks, then responds "Yes I'm sure." Krishann celebrates her, saying "Good job! Don't let me trick you, be confident, be bold; I like it!" There is a case to be made that Krishann is developing the student's emotional capacity to be confident, and teaching her the process of choosing an answer and considering it closely afterwards.
For the Warm Accountability category, human tutors held students accountable by probing deeper into their understanding, unlike AI systems that typically accepted correct answers at face value. The tutor’s sessions involved asking the students to elaborate on their understanding of specific math concepts and verbalize their math thinking. This led to a more thorough exploration of the topic and clarification where needed. In Krishann’s video, when the student mistakenly mixed up converse and inverse, Krishann asked the student “what did we say about the converse?”. The student immediately realized the mistake she made and gave Krishan the correct answer. With just a question, Krishann was able to probe deeper into student’s understanding and verbalize their math thinking! We saw this in every video! For example, in another video, a tutor asks his student whether they are familiar with parallel and perpendicular lines; the student replies "Yes". But then the tutor goes on to ask “Tell me what you know about parallel and perpendicular lines”, and upon further explanation, the tutor discovers the student understands parallel lines but not perpendicular just yet. He points out what is correct about his student's response, and then seamlessly provides clarification about the definition of perpendicular. The tutor uses hand gestures and physical cues to help illustrate the concept to his student, providing his student with visual and physical reinforcement for the definition of the term.
For the category we call Being Known, human tutors personalized the learning experience based on their knowledge of each student's background, strengths, weaknesses, emotional needs, and cultural context. This allowed them to adapt their teaching methods, pace, and content to suit individual student needs. In each session, tutors reference their student's normative environment, background experiences, or personal information unrelated to the math content. In Krishann’s video, she made a reference to Tiana from The Process and Frog based on the question because she knows her student. The student also responded with a smile on her face. That signified a moment of connection between them. There are many examples of this theme in other videos like when the tutor understood the grade levels and school system her student is a part of while introducing her to a new calculator tool. She cites how the student will start using this specific tool next year in 8th grade. Or another tutor adapted his teaching and pacing because he knew his student had a softball game coming up and would miss the next session with him.
After summarizing the themes, we planned a facilitation session with the Andromeda tutors based on the Simple Interactions methodology for strengths-based and interactions-based professional development. Our goal was to bring attention to the instinctive moves tutors were making with their students and what impact they had in the session so they might craft their future tutoring sessions more intentionally. During this facilitation session, we modeled a similar process that you experienced earlier. We would show a clip from one of the tutoring sessions and ask tutors to watch the clip once and only focus on what they were seeing in the clip. Then we showed the clip again and asked them to write down any noticings they have and be prepared to share out in a small group. Once we finished watching the clip, tutors would work in groups of 3-4 and discuss what they noticed and try to answer other questions like “Where does the student need support, academic or otherwise?” and “What does the tutor do to support the student?”. Then we met together as a whole group to discuss their noticings and then welcomed the tutor to share their own experience in watching the clip back. We also discussed the themes that emerged and how they connected with tutor insights throughout the session.
Overall, all tutors had takeaways that they felt ready to apply to their future sessions. Some were focused on academic specific moves like enforcing vocabulary while others wanted to incorporate more social and emotional development moves, like asking questions to elicit student thinking and encouraging confidence with their students. All of these moves support the human connection that we saw in the videos and show that this facilitation session gave the tutors opportunities to name these moves and use them more intentionally in future sessions.
This project provided valuable insights into the role of human connections in one-on-one virtual tutoring sessions. By closely examining these interactions, we observed how the nuances of communication—whether it's a tutor's encouraging comment or a shared moment of understanding—may contribute to a student’s confidence and engagement. These findings suggest that the impact of tutoring might extend beyond academic outcomes, potentially influencing a student's broader growth.
Presenting our findings to the tutors was an informative experience. It offered an opportunity for reflection on the importance of attunement to students' needs and the potential for creating an environment where students feel supported and encouraged. The process underscored the value of paying attention to the relational aspects of tutoring, which may have implications for both tutors and students in various educational contexts.
As we continue to explore these dynamics, it seems that learning is certainly about the connections formed during the process. This project leaves us with much to consider regarding the interplay between human interaction and education, particularly in virtual settings. What did you notice or reflect on after reading about and watching the video?
For the Warm Accountability category, human tutors held students accountable by probing deeper into their understanding, unlike AI systems that typically accepted correct answers at face value. The tutor’s sessions involved asking the students to elaborate on their understanding of specific math concepts and verbalize their math thinking. This led to a more thorough exploration of the topic and clarification where needed. In Krishann’s video, when the student mistakenly mixed up converse and inverse, Krishann asked the student “what did we say about the converse?”. The student immediately realized the mistake she made and gave Krishan the correct answer. With just a question, Krishann was able to probe deeper into student’s understanding and verbalize their math thinking! We saw this in every video! For example, in another video, a tutor asks his student whether they are familiar with parallel and perpendicular lines; the student replies "Yes". But then the tutor goes on to ask “Tell me what you know about parallel and perpendicular lines”, and upon further explanation, the tutor discovers the student understands parallel lines but not perpendicular just yet. He points out what is correct about his student's response, and then seamlessly provides clarification about the definition of perpendicular. The tutor uses hand gestures and physical cues to help illustrate the concept to his student, providing his student with visual and physical reinforcement for the definition of the term.
For the category we call Being Known, human tutors personalized the learning experience based on their knowledge of each student's background, strengths, weaknesses, emotional needs, and cultural context. This allowed them to adapt their teaching methods, pace, and content to suit individual student needs. In each session, tutors reference their student's normative environment, background experiences, or personal information unrelated to the math content. In Krishann’s video, she made a reference to Tiana from The Process and Frog based on the question because she knows her student. The student also responded with a smile on her face. That signified a moment of connection between them. There are many examples of this theme in other videos like when the tutor understood the grade levels and school system her student is a part of while introducing her to a new calculator tool. She cites how the student will start using this specific tool next year in 8th grade. Or another tutor adapted his teaching and pacing because he knew his student had a softball game coming up and would miss the next session with him.
After summarizing the themes, we planned a facilitation session with the Andromeda tutors based on the Simple Interactions methodology for strengths-based and interactions-based professional development. Our goal was to bring attention to the instinctive moves tutors were making with their students and what impact they had in the session so they might craft their future tutoring sessions more intentionally. During this facilitation session, we modeled a similar process that you experienced earlier. We would show a clip from one of the tutoring sessions and ask tutors to watch the clip once and only focus on what they were seeing in the clip. Then we showed the clip again and asked them to write down any noticings they have and be prepared to share out in a small group. Once we finished watching the clip, tutors would work in groups of 3-4 and discuss what they noticed and try to answer other questions like “Where does the student need support, academic or otherwise?” and “What does the tutor do to support the student?”. Then we met together as a whole group to discuss their noticings and then welcomed the tutor to share their own experience in watching the clip back. We also discussed the themes that emerged and how they connected with tutor insights throughout the session.
Overall, all tutors had takeaways that they felt ready to apply to their future sessions. Some were focused on academic specific moves like enforcing vocabulary while others wanted to incorporate more social and emotional development moves, like asking questions to elicit student thinking and encouraging confidence with their students. All of these moves support the human connection that we saw in the videos and show that this facilitation session gave the tutors opportunities to name these moves and use them more intentionally in future sessions.
This project provided valuable insights into the role of human connections in one-on-one virtual tutoring sessions. By closely examining these interactions, we observed how the nuances of communication—whether it's a tutor's encouraging comment or a shared moment of understanding—may contribute to a student’s confidence and engagement. These findings suggest that the impact of tutoring might extend beyond academic outcomes, potentially influencing a student's broader growth.
Presenting our findings to the tutors was an informative experience. It offered an opportunity for reflection on the importance of attunement to students' needs and the potential for creating an environment where students feel supported and encouraged. The process underscored the value of paying attention to the relational aspects of tutoring, which may have implications for both tutors and students in various educational contexts.
As we continue to explore these dynamics, it seems that learning is certainly about the connections formed during the process. This project leaves us with much to consider regarding the interplay between human interaction and education, particularly in virtual settings. What did you notice or reflect on after reading about and watching the video?