Making Learning Real: Design Principles and Evidence for Applied Learning in Schools
Category: Student Learning
Instrument Overview
The Practical Measures, Routines & Representations (PMR²) Whole Class Discussion Survey is a short student survey to gather quick feedback about what happens during a whole-class discussion in mathematics. It is part of the PMR² suite of tools developed by researchers to support continuous instructional improvement, not formal teacher evaluation.
This survey focuses on how students experienced a single math discussion in class. It asks about what students were expected to do to be successful, whose ideas were shared, whether multiple strategies were discussed, how comfortable students felt participating, and whether they felt their ideas were valued. The questions point to key practices that matter for meaningful math learning—such as high-quality tasks, opportunities to reason about others’ ideas, and a classroom culture where students feel safe to share.
The tool is designed for upper-elementary through high school math classrooms, and it can be used regularly (even weekly) to give teachers and school teams a fast, actionable read on how discussions are supporting student thinking. Results can help guide coaching, PLC conversations, or instructional planning by highlighting which parts of a discussion are working well and which areas might need attention, such as student talk, sense-making, or risk-taking.
The PMR² tools are openly available under a Creative Commons license, and the survey is maintained by the PMR² research team (pmr2.org). It is intended for reflective improvement: teachers and teams use student feedback to better understand classroom experiences and to make targeted adjustments that strengthen whole-class discussions over time.
Organization
Topic
Collection Category(ies)
Content
Grades
4th Grade,
5th Grade,
6th Grade,
7th Grade,
8th Grade,
9th Grade,
10th Grade,
11th Grade,
12th Grade
Languages
English
Respondent
Student
Administration Information
Length
10 items
Qualifications
None indicated
Access and Use
Developer
Practical Measures Routines and Representations
Price
Free
Contact
Open Access
Yes
Psychometrics (additional guidance)
Item Type
Multiple choice
