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When Smart Groups Fail
Abstract
In this study I investigated how collaborative interactions influence problem-solving outcomes. Conversations of twelve 6th-grade triads were analyzed utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods. Neither prior achievement of group members nor the generation of correct ideas for solution could account for between-triad differences in problem-solving outcomes. Instead, both characteristics of proposals and partner responsiveness were important correlates of the uptake and documentation of correct ideas by the group. Less successful groups ignored or rejected correct proposals, whereas more successful groups discussed or accepted them. Conversations in less successful groups were relatively incoherent as measured by the extent that proposals for solutions in these groups were connected with preceding discussions. Performance differences observed in triads extended to subsequent problem-solving sessions during which all students solved the same kinds of problems independently. These findings suggest that the quality of interaction had implications for teaming. Case study descriptions illustrate the interweaving of social and cognitive factors involved in establishing a joint problem-solving space. A dual-space model of what collaboration requires of participants is described to clarify how the content of the problem and the relational context are interdependent aspects of the collaborative situation. How participants manage these interacting spaces is critical to the outcome of their work and helps account for variability in collaborative outcomes. Directions for future research that may help teachers, students, and designers of educational environments learn to see and foster productive interactional practices are proposed. The properties of groups of minds in interaction with each other, or the properties of the interaction between individual minds and artifacts in the world, are frequently at the heart of intelligent human performance (Hutchins, 1993, p. 62).
... What is the role of openness in students' mathematics learning during peer interactions? Previous research suggests that openness is a key factor in mathematics learning during peer interactions (Barron, 2003;Fujita et al., 2019;Kazak et al., 2015;Schwarz & Linchevski, 2007). For example, examining mathematics problem-solving of 6th-grade triads, Barron (2003) found that less successful groups (groups with incorrect answers) ignored or rejected correct proposals, whereas more successful groups discussed or accepted them. ...
... Previous research suggests that openness is a key factor in mathematics learning during peer interactions (Barron, 2003;Fujita et al., 2019;Kazak et al., 2015;Schwarz & Linchevski, 2007). For example, examining mathematics problem-solving of 6th-grade triads, Barron (2003) found that less successful groups (groups with incorrect answers) ignored or rejected correct proposals, whereas more successful groups discussed or accepted them. Likewise, investigating a group of UK 12-13-year-old students defining and classifying quadrilaterals, Fujita et al. (2019) reported that the students' unsuccessful "decision-making processes" were influenced by their "inability to see their peers' points of view dialogically [. . ...
... In contrast, openness coupled with critical engagement that was aligned with the new discourse played a key role in the unfolding of the two meta-level growth in the case of Orna and Tamara. This finding reinforces previous studies foregrounding openness (Barron, 2003;Fujita et al., 2019;Kazak et al., 2015;Schwarz & Linchevski, 2007) as well as critical engagement (Díez-Palomar & Olivé, 2015;Goos et al., 2002;Webb et al., 2021) as key factors in effective mathematics peer learning. It also adds to them by shedding light on the nature of the contribution of openness and critical engagement to meta-level growths. ...
Background:
Although it has been suggested that peer interactions that are meaningful both mathematically and dialogically are rare, not much is known about them. We draw on commognition to suggest a unified definition of dialogic mathematics peer learning as a peer interaction including two features: (a) a shift from familiar ways and rules of doing mathematics to newer, more developed ones; (b) openness to and critical engagement with each other’s suggestions that involves reliance on the more developed rules.
Method:
We empirically demonstrate the affordances of the suggested lens by micro-analyzing five dyadic interactions of middle-school students working on a geometric task designed to encourage a shift from familiar visual/configural ways of doing geometry to more developed deductive ones.
Findings:
Only one out of the five interactions included both features of dialogic mathematics peer learning; three interactions lacked both features; and one interaction included the openness and critical engagement feature but still not the mathematical shift feature.
Contribution:
The paper provides discursive conceptual and methodological tools for examining the intersection between two important strands of the learning sciences – mathematics learning and dialogic learning – as well as empirical and practical conclusions that foreground the complexity and fragility of this intersection.
... Research has examined group interactions and identified their implications for productive learning. Evidence from Barron's (2003) study has indicated that the conversations of productive groups are coherent, where students discuss and uptake others' ideas from interactions. However, unproductive groups are more likely to dismiss proposed ideas in subsequent discussions in the collaboration. ...
... However, the groups failed to draw joint attention to those issues. Barron's (2003) study on social interactions and collaborative learning performance showed that whether the correct proposals had been documented and taken up by the rest of the group is a key characteristic that differentiated the successful and less successful groups. The result of the present study echoes the findings of Barron (2003). ...
... Barron's (2003) study on social interactions and collaborative learning performance showed that whether the correct proposals had been documented and taken up by the rest of the group is a key characteristic that differentiated the successful and less successful groups. The result of the present study echoes the findings of Barron (2003). The result indicates that the sequenced co-regulated and shared content monitoring is more than developing joint attention and uptake of previous proposals, but offering a chance for the groups as a whole to assess whether the proposals are correct and make adaptive decisions. ...
Previous studies have reported the importance of regulation in collaborative learning. To understand and support students’ learning, researchers have identified that regulation in collaboration emerges as a series of contingent activities at individual and social levels, addressing various learning foci in cognitive, motivational, emotional, and behavioural aspects. However, explanations on how different levels and foci of regulation together influence learning performance have not been made clear. To capture the complexity of regulated learning and the linkage to learning performance, this study examined the temporal sequences of regulated learning, including types (levels), sub-processes, and foci of regulation. Video and interview data were collected from undergraduate students working on a collaborative learning task. These multi-channel data were analysed by content analysis and triangulated to identify the dynamic emergence of regulation events. Process mining was employed to analyse and visualise the temporality and sequences of regulatory processes. The results showed that co-regulated content monitoring was critical in facilitating regulation and task execution at a group level. High-performing groups demonstrated different patterns in developing shared content monitoring and co-regulation of motivation and emotion in the overall learning task. Meanwhile, the variances in how the groups regulated content development and task progress across learning phases were identified. This research extends the conceptualisation of regulated learning to a dynamic multi-layered system. The methods and findings from this study have implications for developing timely and systemic support to improve group performance.
... This dimension assesses the level of trust, mutual interest, and communication within groups, with item scores ranging from 3.582 to 3.945, reflecting a "Very High Collaborative Creativity." This aligns with Barron's (2003) [24] emphasis on the importance of these factors for successful group dynamics in problem-solving. ...
... This dimension assesses the level of trust, mutual interest, and communication within groups, with item scores ranging from 3.582 to 3.945, reflecting a "Very High Collaborative Creativity." This aligns with Barron's (2003) [24] emphasis on the importance of these factors for successful group dynamics in problem-solving. ...
... Communication and Idea Sharing: Extensive brainstorming and the freedom to share even controversial ideas (mean = 3.673) created a collaborative atmosphere. This mirrors Barron's (2003) [24] research, which underscores the role of open communication in group success. The absence of favoritism and the active solicitation of input from all members (mean = 3.709) ensured that all ideas were considered, fostering creativity, as described by Sawyer (2017) [27]. ...
This study explores how Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSEd) Science students engage in collaborative creativity through the creation of educational games. By combining gamification and experiential learning, the study highlights the potential of game design to enhance critical skills such as communication, teamwork, and creativity among future educators. Using a transcendental phenomenology approach with a mixed-methods design integrating both quantitative and qualitative data, the research assessed the students' collaboration dynamics, problem-solving abilities, and creative processes in game development projects. Quantitative data was collected through a 21-item questionnaire, while qualitative insights were gathered via semi-structured interviews. Results showed that game creation not only deepened students' understanding of scientific concepts but also fostered group creativity through shared goals, brainstorming, and iterative problem-solving. Data was analyzed through triangulation and thematic analysis, revealing that incorporating game design into educational programs can significantly enhance collaborative learning, critical thinking, and job readiness, offering a novel approach to teacher training in science education.
... One reason could be that this study zoomed into consensus-building discourses instead of the whole collaboration discussion. As previous studies highlighted, the establishment and maintenance of shared understanding is not easy (Barron, 2003). Compared to idea externalization and elicitation, consensus-building discourses require more integral design concepts, reasoning, and analysis, during which hand gestures may help demonstrate the design objects or solutions instead of merely directing others' attention. ...
... This resonates with the recent multi-modal learning analytics (MMLA) research that emphasizes cross-dimension engagement, such as the Multimodal Embodied Teamwork Signature (METS) method and the Learning in Embodied Activity Framework (LEAF) (Danish et al., 2020). The incorporation of both verbal and non-verbal peer interaction deserves attention from CSCL researchers who are interested in understanding why smart groups fail (Barron, 2003) and how to provide just-in-time support in real-world teaching and learning practices (Novak et al., 1999). Though being applied in everyday collaborative learning activities, hand gestures received less exploration than verbal discussion, gaze attention, or facial expressions (Noroozi et al., 2020). ...
... Dietrich et al. (2022) pointed to the importance of further examining such experiences to consider complex change. Investigation of momentary engagement in group-based contexts, in particular, could extend understanding of the role of group work in supporting students' attention to tasks (e.g., Hmelo-Silver et al. 2018;Pollastri, et al., 2013), enhancing reasoning (e.g., Barron, 2003), and promoting the development of a collective working memory that may increase their capacity for problem solving (Kirschner et al., 2018;van den Bossche, et al. 2011;Zambrano et al., 2019). ...
... Study of the students' use of EFP and stages of CPS, moreover, provides insight into what might be expected of students at this age as they engage in group work that involves open-ended problem solving. These results confirm that the collaborative context of group work promotes attention to the task (e.g., Hmelo-Silver et al., 2018;Pohl, 2020), enhances reasoning (e.g., Barron, 2003), and promotes use of working memory (e.g., Kirschner et al., 2018); they also underscore the importance of considering how students are engaging in this context. In addition, our findings suggest the potentially essential contribution of task features such as prompts to discuss math in mediating student cognitive and behavioral engagement. ...
Collaborative problem solving (CPS) has been shown to both engage and benefit students’ learning of mathematics. However, there is evidence that group work is not always easy to facilitate, in part because educators lack details about learners’ engagement during group work: the processes of problem solving involved, and how these are engaged. In this exploratory study, we focused on these processes in the moments of related math activity, or math moments, engaged by two groups of interested, urban, middle-school aged students during four sessions of work in the Virtual Math Teams (VMT) environment. We examined three phases of their problem solving: Exploring, Constructing, and Checking. In addition, to further describe the students’ cognitive and behavioral engagement, we considered both the process of students' use of executive functions (EF), during problem solving, termed executive functions in practice (EFP), as well as the stage of CPS (Participation, Cooperation, and Collaboration), during phases of problem solving. We learned that the relation between each phase of problem solving, categories of EFP, and stages of CPS vary; for example, the problem-solving phase of Exploring was found to have a more positive effect on EFP and CPS than either Constructing or Checking. Implications for educational practice, and next steps for related research are described.
... There are various formats that promote interactive processes. (Barron, 2003;Cohen, 1994aCohen, , 1994bJohnson & Johnson, 1990;Johnson & Johnson, 1991;Slavin, 1996;Webb, 1982;Webb & Farivar, 1994) have come up with conducive processes for learning. The first of these processes is engagement. ...
... Second, David and Roger Johnson have emphasized the importance of positive interdependence, which occurs when students can only complete a task by working together; the task cannot be completed as effectively or at all when working individually. Effective positive interdependence is likely to result in joint attention to the tasks at hand (Barron, 2003). This means that students are focused on the same task, often literally looking at the same information and certainly talking about a common topic. ...
Whatever the teaching strategy, it is advisable to incorporate questions and answers, discussions, hands-on activities, and other ways of getting learners actively involved in the learning of the content. Students learn best when they are actively involved in the learning experience. Practical oriented subjects in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) lend themselves easily to hands-on activities, but it can be a challenge in social sciences subjects such as sociology and psychology. Whereas one should try to avoid lecturing for lengthy periods, it is very important to listen to the learners and allow them to become aware of the content in order to construct knowledge as opposed to trying to "teach" them knowledge. Thus, feedback should be provided before any type of evaluation is administered. Collaborative learning, also referred to as group learning or cooperative learning has clear benefits for student in terms of retention of information, critical thinking and consolidation of learning from different parts of a programme. Groups provide opportunities for learning that are difficult to establish in traditional settings. They are particularly useful to enable learners to take part in discussion, active participation, feedback and reflection, and to consolidate learning, clarify understanding, and explore ideas and concepts. Depending on the purpose and nature of the group, group learning can also help to develop ‘transferable’ skills, such as study skills, communication skills, teamwork, problem solving and personal development. Teaching and Learning in groups has a valuable part to play in the all-round education of students. It allows them to negotiate meanings, to express themselves in the language of the subject, and to establish more intimate contact with academic staff than more formal methods permit. It also develops the more instrumental skills of listening, presenting ideas and persuading. This paper conceptualizes the meaning, purpose and strength of collaborative work in teaching and learning as opposed to traditional teaching and learning.
... Students may fail to engage with others in ways that reflect the teacher's intentions or directions for the task (Kotsopoulos, 2010). And even when they do, enhanced learning outcomes may not follow as planned (e.g., Barron, 2003;Kotsopoulos, 2010;Sfard & Kieran, 2001;Wood & Kalinec, 2012). ...
... While current research is promising, it is often difficult for teachers to successfully implement collaborative problem solving. Qualitative research illustrates numerous examples wherein collaborative problem solving in mathematics fails to achieve desired outcomes (Barron, 2003;Kotsopoulos, 2010;Sfard & Kieran, 2001;Wood & Kalinec, 2012). For instance, Kotsopoulos (2010) research showed that despite a classroom teacher's research-informed pedagogical interventions to support collaborative learning in a middle school classroom, students were often hostile toward their group members and refrained from helping one another to understand mathematical concepts. ...
While the potential of collaborative problem solving in mathematics is well-known, facilitating effective group work is often challenging. One reason for this persistent difficulty educators face with collaborative problem solving can be traced to research and practice models that are not well-equipped to attend to the complexity of group work. The emerging construct of "collec-tive engagement structures" represents one novel framework designed to attend to the complexity and variation of individual and group experience in collaborative problem solving. This study extends initial theorizing by offering descriptive accounts of the different types of collective engagement structures that emerged from analysis of 23 middle-grade groups. We identified seven collective engagement structures: Follow The Leader, Let's Figure This Out, Let's Get The Job Done, We're Really Into This, Let's Win!, Let's Have Fun, and Everybody For Themselves. Beyond an intellectual exercise, these structures revealed the student-and group-level competencies for optimal group practices.
... Thus, disagreement arises from contrasting views on models and may become a catalyst for ensuing discussions and explorations, ultimately enhancing their learning experiences. In general, research on collaboration consistently suggests that small group work generally leads to improved problem-solving and learning outcomes (Barron, 2003;Chen et al., 2018). ...
... Second, the strategies of sharing screen and reading aloud helped students orient to the same part of the shared representation simultaneously. In this way, models and comments formed boundary objects for group discussions (Akkerman & Bakker, 2011), facilitating successful collaboration among students (Barron, 2003). (3) Providing rich evidence and easy access: Accessible evidence played a crucial role in resolving disagreements in a manner similar to the kinds of professional practices that we aim to develop. ...
Disagreement is often perceived negatively, yet it can be beneficial for learning and scientific inquiry. However, students tend to avoid engaging in disagreement. Peer critique activities offer a promising way to encourage students to embrace disagreement, which supports learning as students articulate their ideas, making them available for discussion, revision, and refinement. This study aims to better understand how students express disagreement during peer critique within small groups and how that affects moving their inquiry forward. It explores 5th-grade students’ management of disagreement within a computer-supported collaborative modeling environment. Using conversation analysis, we identified various forms of disagreements employed by students when engaging with different audiences. We observed a tendency for students to disagree softly; that is, disagreement was implied and/or mitigated. Students’ resolution of both direct and soft disagreements effectively promoted their collective knowledge advancement, including building shared scientific understanding and improving their models, while maintaining a positive socio-emotional climate. These findings have implications for designing CSCL environments with respect to supporting students in providing and responding to peer critiques at the group level.
... Moreover, it has been found that the more students are involved in mathematical discussions, the more they learn (Ing et al., 2015;Webb et al., 2014). However, small-group work does not automatically benefit learning (Barron, 2003). Students might struggle to communicate their mathematical ideas to each other (Sfard & Kieran, 2001). ...
... However, merely organizing students into small groups does not automatically inspire such discussions: students do not automatically know how to engage in high-quality discussions (Barron, 2003;Mercer & Sams, 2006). Previously (Calor et al., 2020), we found that merely placing students in a small group led to lower-quality discussions with many key activities and far fewer regulating activities. ...
... Furthermore, research suggests that CP and SEP are closely interrelated, co-occurring and dynamically shaping one another as the collaboration unfolds, as well as have a reciprocal effect with the construction of knowledge and performance (Janssen & Bodemer, 2013;Kreijns et al., 2013). For instance, positive socio-emotional interactions, such as attentive listening, showing mutual respect, and encouraging group cohesion can facilitate and reinforce mutual participation in higher-quality cognitive interactions, such as reasoning, elaborating, and negotiating, which in turn lead to individual and joint knowledge building and performance, and vice versa (Barron, 2003;Isohätälä et al., 2018;Sinha et al., 2015). ...
... Contrary to the theoretical expectations and previous research (e.g., Barron, 2003;Isohätälä et al., 2018;Näykki et al., 2017), the regulatory processes did not exhibit a significant direct impact on cognitive engagement levels over time in either WT or LC activities. This suggests that the direct influence of regulation processes on cognitive engagement in these specific online activities might be more complex and less immediately observable. ...
This study investigates student interaction and engagement in Twitter-supported collaborative learning, focusing on cognitive and socio-emotional processes, their evolution, and their impact on knowledge construction and group project outcomes within a higher education flipped classroom context. Utilising mixed methods analysis, including qualitative content analysis and Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMM), tweets from 28 s-year Guidance and Psychological Counselling students were analysed during weekly tweeting (WT) and live chat (LC) activities over a 10-week period. Findings reveal distinct engagement patterns in both activities. Asynchronous WT activities primarily supported reflective individual cognitive engagement with minimal socio-emotional interaction. Conversely, synchronous LC activities fostered dynamic, interactive cognitive engagement and richer socio-emotional interactions. LCs more effectively promoted self and social regulation of socio-emotional processes, while both activities showed few instances of social regulation of cognitive processes. Temporal analysis indicated significant fluctuations in cognitive engagement during WT activities, whereas LCs showed a consistent increase in cognitive engagement and fluctuations in socio-emotional engagement. GLMM analysis highlighted a significant, positive relationship between cognitive and socio-emotional engagement over time. Different types of engagement had distinct impacts on learning outcomes. Cognitive engagement in LCs strongly correlated with social knowledge construction and group project success, while in WT, it linked to individual knowledge construction and group project outcomes. Socio-emotional engagement significantly correlated with social knowledge construction in LCs, and the regulation of socio-emotional processes positively influenced social knowledge construction only in WT activities. This study emphasises the distinct ways Twitter facilitates engagement and learning, underscoring the role of activity design in fostering cognitive and socio-emotional processes. It also underscores how social media can be effectively integrated into a flipped classroom setting to substantially enhance collaborative experiences and learning outcomes in higher education.
... Desde hace ya décadas contamos con numerosas evidencias científicas de que, bajo ciertas condiciones, la cooperación puede proporcionar mejores resultados de aprendizaje que la enseñanza tradicional en grupos grandes. En los clásicos trabajos publicados por Slavin (1983), Cohen (1994), Lou et al. (1996), Johnson et al. (1989), Barron (2003), Rohrbeck et al. (2003) y Ginsburg-Block et al. (2006) se revisaron o meta-analizaron en total más de 500 investigaciones empíricas que llegaban a esta conclusión con estudiantes de distintas edades, áreas y tareas curriculares diversas. Otras revisiones más recientes la corroboran también (véase, por |68 ejemplo, Slavin, 2010;Topping, 2015;Kyndt et al., 2013;Alegre et al., 2018). ...
Desde los años 80 el aprendizaje cooperativo se ha propuesto recurrentemente como una necesaria y “vieja” innovación
para mejorar la calidad educativa. El reciente Informe de la UNESCO “Reimaginar juntos nuestros futuros: un nuevo
contrato social para la educación” presenta, de hecho, las “pedagogías cooperativas”, como el primero de los retos para
renovar la educación.
En este trabajo se revisan, en primer lugar, los argumentos educativos y las evidencias científicas que fundamentan la
importancia del aprendizaje cooperativo en el aula, así como las condiciones didácticas que se requieren. En segundo
lugar, se reflexiona sobre las razones que explican su escasa implantación: la distancia entre dichas condiciones y la
práctica del aula. En tercer lugar, se discuten las limitaciones de la estrategia persuasiva para salvar esa distancia, y se
argumentan otras alternativas que deben tenerse en cuenta en los procesos de formación del profesorado.
Se concluye la importancia de, por un lado, centrar la investigación educativa, no tanto en los beneficios del aprendizaje
cooperativo, como en las necesidades formativas del profesorado; y, por otro lado, de replantear los procesos de
formación docente, de modo que, más allá de generar actitudes, se centren en el asesoramiento y el apoyo ante dichas
necesidades.
... Also, there are studies with conflicting conclusions on whether homogeneous groups or heterogeneous groups are more effective in collaborative learning (Baer, 2003;Hersberger, 1995;Webb, Nermer, Chizhik, & Sugrue, 1998). Recently, in addition to determining students' achievement in collaborative learning, studies about the collaboration process have been increased to analyze qualitatively how students collaborate with each other (Barron, 2000(Barron, , 2003Chiu, 2008). However, in Korea, there are few studies focusing on how collaboration develops during students' problem-solving. ...
... The recordings were used to examine the quality of students' interactions. In the analysis of interactions during the collaborative deepening understanding session, we focused on the group as our unit of analysis (Barron 2003) and created a rubric to score the quality of students' discussions (Chan et al. 1997). There were f ive groups in each group. ...
This study examined the effects of a Thinking after Instruction (TAI) approach that integrates teachers’ direct instruction and students’ discovery learning with metacognitive activities. Fifty-six 8th-grade students taking a five-day science class were assigned to one of three groups: a TAI group or two control groups (CG1 or CG2). TAI students (a) received direct instruction from the teacher on the basic contents, (b) explained in pairs their understanding of what teachers had instructed them, (c) attempted to solve problems that deepened their comprehension of the basic contents, and (d) described what they understood and did not understand. CG1 students were not asked to check their comprehension, but instead engaged for a longer time in the deepening comprehension task. CG2 students tried the basic tasks before receiving direct instruction, but they did not work on comprehension checking and self-evaluation (phases b and d). The results demonstrate that TAI students performed better on post-tests of basic contents and deepening comprehension tasks than the other two groups. They also performed better on a transfer test than CG2 students.
... The issues related to classroom collaboration, including free-riding and the unequal level of collaboration, persist (Hämäläinen & Arvaja, 2009), as do information overload (Morgil et al., 2004) and time management issues (Dillenbourg, 2009). The depth of understanding from generating and comparing alternative solutions and resolving conflicts is thereby lost (Barron, 2003), leading to unproductive CSCL processes and outcomes. ...
Computer-supported collaborative argumentation (CSCA) is an effective pedagogy to help deepen the learners’ understanding of content knowledge and develop their 21st-century competencies such as communication and collaboration skills, as well as creative and inventive thinking. In this study, the Spiral Model of Collaborative Knowledge Improvement (SMCKI) was employed to script learners’ CSCA in a secondary school classroom in Singapore. This exploratory study examined whether students’ argumentation artifacts, English language writing, and argumentation writing improved through the scripted CSCA activity. The results showed that students improved in both English language writing and argumentation writing quality across the various phases of SMCKI. The implications of these findings for the design and implementation of scripted CSCA in authentic classroom teaching and learning settings are discussed.
... We saw that guiding mentors to see how their individual contribution mutually benefits the relationship fosters organic collaboration. Participants effectively engage in collaborative tasks through contributions from different group members when they are able to offer diverse values to the collaborative relationship [47,48]. We also argue that the structure of social interaction within this cross-disciplinary model naturally fosters collaboration between engineering majors and teacher-candidates as they each contribute their respective expertise while working for a common goal-creating and delivering effective workshops for the high school robotics students. ...
Success in the professional engineering workplace increasingly requires soft skills in addition to technical knowledge. Faculty and curriculum constraints present higher education with significant challenges for fostering soft skills in engineering students. This paper provides an overview of an interdisciplinary model, involving undergraduate engineering students and mathematics teacher candidates, to co-design STEM-related workshops for a high school robotic club in an after-school mentoring program. Drawing on questionnaire and interview data from the 25 mentors across three years, we elaborate on the model's effectiveness through the lens of soft skills development. We share the journey of how these mentors collaborate and interact with their cross-disciplinary colleagues and serve as mentors for high school students. We then report empirical evidence on how the social interaction embedded in our design model enhances the engineering and education mentors' soft skill development in Teamwork, Presentation, Leadership, and Adaptability skills. We also discuss the implications and recommendations for further research based on our findings.
... In acknowledging the constraints of our study, it is important to consider the dynamic nature of group discussions. Group dynamics and dominant voices often steer conversations in unpredictable ways, potentially overshadowing quieter perspectives and affecting the collective insights gained from the activity (Barron, 2003). Our study's context, limited to a single afterschool program over a condensed 4-day period, may not fully represent the depth of engagement and critical thought typically required for comprehensive interaction with complex SJSI. ...
Integrating science education with social justice is vital for preparing students to critically address significant societal issues like climate change and pandemics. This study examines the effectiveness of socioscientific system modeling as a tool within Justice-Centered Science Pedagogy (JCSP) to enhance middle school students' understanding of social justice science issues. It focuses on how system modeling can scaffold students' reasoning about complex social systems, informed by their lived experiences, cultural backgrounds, and social identities. Our research involved 27 middle school students using system models to explore the societal and scientific dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic. By leveraging the experiences and insights of students, educators can create transformative learning environments that not only recognize but also utilize students' unique knowledge bases as legitimate contributions to classroom discourse. The implications for instructional design highlight the need for multifaceted, responsive activities that align with the principles of JCSP and empower students as agents of societal transformation. The research contributes to the ongoing discourse on enhancing science education through justice-centered approaches that address the complexities of socioscientific context and the cultural relevance of scientific knowledge.
... Collaboration as defined by Roschelle and Teasley (1995, p. 70) is "a coordinated, synchronous activity that is the result of a continued attempt to construct and maintain a shared conception of a problem". According to Barron (2003), collaboration comes with several challenges for students, as they must simultaneously attend to a content space and a relational space. In the content space, students work on a task by exchanging opinions and ideas and producing (counter-) arguments to acquire knowledge associated with the task and come up with a common solution (Janssen & Bodemer, 2013). ...
During collaborative problem solving, higher education students experience various challenges like communication and coordination issues. Moreover, they often report feeling unprepared to work in collaborative environments. Hence, despite the benefits of learning and working together, some groups fail to function, resulting in poor performance, low learning gains and dissatisfaction among group members. The current study investigates the potential of group reflexivity interventions (i.e., debriefings) as a means to foster students’ collaboration, performance and learning gain. Using a pretest–posttest design, 38 higher education students worked together in 14 teams to solve a collaborative problem-solving task in a hackathon-like setting. At the midpoint of the teams’ collaboration, they conducted either a debriefing (experimental condition) or a filler task (control condition). Quantitative (e.g., questionnaires) and qualitative data (e.g., video recordings) were collected and evaluated. Statistical analyses revealed beneficial effects for collaboration, but not for performance and learning gain. Observing the teams during the debriefings provided further insights into students’ joint reflection processes. The findings emphasize the potential of self-led debriefings in fostering students’ collaboration. Our study helps in understanding the linkage between debriefing and collaboration more precisely. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
... In competitive games, players are required to form strategies that oppose the other players in the game (Zagal, Rick and Hsi, 2006). According to Barron (2003) humans tend to be oriented towards a competitive mind-set, mistaking collaborative and cooperative situations for competitive situations. Inter-individual competition is based in social comparison mechanisms (Whittemore, 1925) and these mechanisms lead learners to engage in multiplayer inter-individual competitive games to overcome the other players in the game. ...
This chapter addresses the key issues in the psychological factors related to collaborative Game Based Learning (GBL). The first part of the chapter provides a comprehensive review of the research developed in collaborative learning and the specific field of collaborative GBL. It begins with an analysis of the social interaction dynamics involved in collaborative learning. This is followed by a specific analysis of game dynamics in multiplayer games (such as intergroup cooperation and competition) and the efficiency of these dynamics in supporting the collaborative learning process. In closing this chapter, the teaching and game design implications of the psychological aspects of collaborative GBL are discussed-so enabling a transfer of the most relevant knowledge and best practises.
... Examples of collaborative products in the educational literature can be observed by comparing the results of their pre-and post-performance on tasks (Dillenbourg, 1999). One critique of such a focus is it tends to perpetuate the pattern of stronger students taking the lead (Barron, 2003) which results in asymmetrical cooperation where "individuals do not contribute equally toward the group goal" (as cited in Evans, 2020, p. 6). In contrast, collaboration conceptualised through evaluating the processes of collaboration prioritises children's interactions with peers. ...
Peer collaboration is a complex skill that emerges in early childhood. However, researchers and practitioners lack a shared understanding/definition of what peer collaboration means and how to observe it in early educational settings. This review aimed to examine definitions of peer collaboration and the behaviours observed in research on peer collaboration in children zero to six years of age. The current scoping review follows the Joanna Briggs Institute’s methodology. The search syntax was applied in PsycInfo, Education Resource, ERIC, and Child Development and Adolescent Studies. This scoping review includes 123 articles on children engaged in peer collaboration in early educational settings. Inductive and deductive mathematical coding was conducted, followed by descriptive statistics. Four domains from the definitions of peer collaboration were identified. These were: “Achieving a Greater Objective”, “Verbal Communication”, “Prosocial Skills”, and “Knowledge Exchange”. Co-occurrences between these domains were identified using a network analysis. The following six domains, describing how collaboration was observed in young children, were identified across the literature: “Interactive Characteristics”, “Communication”,“Activity Structure”, “Assessment of Performance”, “Reciprocity”, and “Cognitive Skills”. Finally, we identified whether observations of collaboration focused on collaborative processes (i.e. behaviours occurring during collaboration) or products (i.e. outcomes). We found that peer collaboration in early educational settings was more commonly viewed as a collaborative process (although this varied by domain). We conclude by offering a synthesised definition of collaboration and a framework to begin thinking about measuring collaboration based on the findings from this study
... A few factors that influence collaborative learning are students' socio-cognitive and socio-emotional tendencies, the strategies they apply to solve the task, how they regulate group learning to orient themselves towards the task or group members, and their level of engagement (Baucal et al., 2023). Productive behaviors include speaking up and asking questions (Barron, 2003;Webb et al., 2014), distributing the workload among learners (Kontorovich et al., 2012), taking time for individual work, and making sense within group learning (Abdu & Schwarz, 2020;Rummel & Spada, 2005). ...
We examined the relationships between student content-specific grouping and the attributes of teachers-students’ interactions during online collaborative mathematical task solving using a learning analytics tool for automatic formative assessment. Such technology offloads some teachers’ responsibilities regarding mathematical aspects of learning, and we therefore ask, what are the characteristics of teachers’ interactions with students in this context? How do these characteristics relate to content-specific grouping? We examined teachers’ interactions with 29 pairs of 10th-grade students in distance group mathematics learning in a technological environment on the subject of the quadratic function. Students were teamed according to their work on a preliminary task in one of the following ways: encompassing, mutual, or similar. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of teachers’ interactions with students and interviews were conducted. We identified four categories of teacher actions that characterize dialog facilitation: task comprehension, technology use, mathematics content, and interpersonal interactions. The findings showed that teachers initiated more inferences than students in the interpersonal and task comprehension categories, while there was no significant difference between the initiators of the other categories. Furthermore, teachers and students initiated interpersonal interactions significantly more when groups were grouped with unbalanced relationships (encompassing, commonly known as heterogeneous grouping). These findings shed light on the potential to foster nuanced abilities of mathematics teachers to facilitate group work.
... Despite CSCL's benefits, learners in groups do not always attain collaborative knowledge construction (CKC), even in rich, technology-enhanced environments (Barron, 2003). Successful collaborative learning relies on peers constructing a shared conceptual space through interaction, shared language, activity, and situational context (Dillenbourg, 1999;Roschelle & Teasley, 1995). ...
Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) offers a modern setting for learners to engage in meaningful (meta)cognitive and socioemotional interactions. However, the task design, not technology alone, significantly shapes students’ learning interactions. This study investigates how a conceptual physics task and a hands-on robotics task promote collaborative knowledge construction (CKC) and group-level cognitive, as well as emotion–motivation, regulation among secondary school students. Utilizing video recordings of students’ collaborative interactions and process-oriented methods, we examined the occurrence and temporal interplay of these processes from the two tasks. Transmodal network analysis complemented by qualitative case examples revealed significant differences in the nature of CKC and regulation of learning during the tasks. Cognitive processes and strong interconnections between cognitive regulation and negotiation were more typical for the conceptual physics task. The hands-on robotics task featured more frequent, but shorter, sequences of initial CKC phases and emphasized socioemotional interactions for sustained positive collaboration. This study highlights task design’s importance in collaborative learning processes and provides insights for optimizing CSCL environments for effective collaboration.
... Embora a colaboração em pequenos grupos seja esperada para melhorar o aprendizado, simplesmente colocar os alunos juntos não vai, automaticamente, trazer colaboração e aprendizagem produtiva, pois eles precisam saber como regular sua aprendizagem e da colaboração dos colegas, agindo de forma corregular (BARRON, 2003;KREIJNS et al., 2003). Para isso, é fundamental que esse processo de corregulação seja estimulado por meio de situações propícias, que instiguem os estudantes a interagirem de maneira cooperativa e que seja mediado pelo docente, o qual poderá auxiliar nesse avanço coletivo. ...
Este é o quarto volume de uma coletânea produzida por um grupo de professores e alunos do Programa de PósGraduação em Ensino de Ciências e Matemática (PPGECIM) da Universidade Luterana do Brasil (ULBRA).
A obra, intitulada Ensino e Aprendizagem em Ciências e Matemática: referenciais, práticas e perspectivas, apresenta
resultados das investigações, discussões e reflexões à luz dos referenciais teóricos adotados nos trabalhos de pesquisa que têm
sido desenvolvidos, aos quais se procura dar destaque. Está organizada em nove capítulos articulados, considerando as linhas
de pesquisa do Programa: Ensino e Aprendizagem em Ensino de Ciências e Matemática, Tecnologias no Ensino de Ciências e
Matemática, Inclusão e Formação de Professores, sendo que, o último capítulo, destaca aspectos metodológicos de processos
de investigação.
O primeiro capítulo trata das competências profissionais de um professor de Matemática, com foco na competência de
Observar com Sentido, considerando-a fundamental para o exercício da profissão de professor. Salienta a importância da escolha
de tarefas matemáticas para um planejamento didático de qualidade e como meio para o desenvolvimento da competência de
Observar com Sentido, apresentando o exemplo de uma investigação com a temática Equações nos anos finais do Ensino
Fundamental.
As contribuições dos constructos da Etnomatemática e da Teoria Socioepistemológica da Matemática Educativa-TSME,
as quais colocam em evidência o papel da Matemática e do seu ensino, na busca e consolidação de uma educação que valorize
as manifestações sociais, culturais e produtivas de diferentes grupos de indivíduos são apresentadas no segundo capítulo, a
partir da investigação produzida junto a uma comunidade indígena do Estado de Roraima.
No capítulo três, é proposta uma reflexão sobre a importância da Educação Financeira, no currículo escolar, na perspectiva
da Educação Matemática Crítica, partindo do entendimento que o currículo de Matemática deve abordar temáticas relevantes
para a vida em sociedade, a formação do estudante e o desenvolvimento dos objetos do conhecimento. Destaca três pesquisas
de Mestrado, as quais têm a Educação Matemática Crítica como pressuposto teórico.
O capítulo quatro apresenta e discute os pressupostos teóricos relacionados com a metacognição, autorregulação e
corregulação, bem como, suas implicações para o ensino de Ciências. A discussão aborda os principais aspectos conceituais da
metacognição e autorregulação, o processo de corregulação colaborativa, revisão de estudos empíricos sobre a temática e
apontamentos a respeito da metacognição e autorregulação no ensino de Ciências.
A Cultura Digital e a Aprendizagem Criativa, no contexto do Ensino de Ciências, são caracterizadas no capítulo cinco,
considerando que a inclusão de Tecnologias Digitais no ensino é uma possibilidade de transformar, qualitativamente, o processo
educacional, tornando essas tecnologias potenciais para diminuir as desigualdades sociais. O foco da discussão é fomentar
propostas educacionais para a formação da cidadania para a era digital.
O capítulo seis aborda o que pode representar um desafio para os docentes no contexto de sala de aula, trazendo um
olhar voltado não apenas à discussão das mudanças pelas quais a sociedade passa e como as novas tecnologias são
incorporadas, mas, também, pontuando questões voltadas a conflitos de geração que tecem, certamente, novos caminhos que
forneçam reflexões para a Formação de Professores para o século XXI.
Uma reflexão sobre a formação do professor de Matemática para a Educação Básica, no cenário nacional, é o tema
abordado no capítulo sete. Nele, são destacadas as implicações do percurso profissional (ciclo de vida profissional) no
desenvolvimento docente e na construção de uma identidade profissional pautada em saberes que oportunizem a consolidação
da autonomia necessária para enfrentar as exigências da profissão.
O capítulo oito destaca a importância da adaptação curricular, no ensino de Ciências e Matemática, como estratégia para
que os estudantes de inclusão tenham acesso aos conteúdos referentes ao ano escolar que frequentam, visando à sua
compreensão, mas respeitando suas peculiaridades. São discutidos aspectos teóricos que envolvem a questão, sendo
apresentados exemplos de adaptações curriculares já realizadas.
Por fim, o último capítulo aborda o desenvolvimento de pesquisas com a utilização de imagens, escores e suas diferentes
possibilidades, na metodologia denominada de S.I.M., Magnitude de Imagens por Escores (Magnitude of Images by Scores),
dentro da perspectiva da Pesquisa com Métodos Mistos. O texto trata da construção da metodologia a partir do contínuo repensar
de sua utilização, harmonizando percepções, concepções e mensurações com base em investigações produzidas no âmbito do
PPGECIM.
Carmen Teresa Kaiber
Claudia Lisete Oliveira Groenwald
Organizadoras
... For LP groups, targeted strategies are needed to address challenges such as fragmented problem-solving and distractions. Assigning specific roles and responsibilities, along with implementing monitoring tools and regular feedback, can help LP groups maintain focus and improve task management (Barron, 2003;Chen et al., 2018). These interventions can foster proactive communication, clear task guidance, and environments that support continuous engagement and critical evaluation (Volet et al., 2017;Järvelä et al., 2019). ...
This study explores the differences in students' verbal behavior sequences between high-performing (HP) and low-performing (LP) groups in a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment. Employing quantitative content analysis and Lag Sequential Analysis (LSA), this study analyzed the verbal interactions of these two groups. The findings reveal that HP groups frequently engaged in cycles of negotiation, clarity-seeking, and task coordination, leading to effective collaboration and problem-solving. In contrast, LP groups exhibited fragmented problem-solving approaches and frequent off-task behaviors. These insights highlight the importance of structured support and focused task management in enhancing collaborative learning outcomes. These findings suggest that educators should foster learning environments that promote continuous critical evaluation and seamless coordination to improve group performance.
... However, merely grouping students does not inherently lead to effective collaboration. Research indicates that without proper structure and guidance, collaborative learning may not result in enriched interactions or improved learning outcomes (Johnson & Johnson, 1999;Barron, 2003). ...
This study explores students' verbal interaction dynamics in two computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments: immediate collaboration and individual preparation (IP) followed by group collaboration. Although verbal interactions are not always central to all CSCL designs, they are critical in contexts that emphasize face-to-face or synchronous communication, where they facilitate negotiation, idea sharing, and collaborative knowledge construction. By applying content analysis and lag sequential analysis (LSA), this study examined the verbal interaction behavioral sequences of students in both conditions to understand how IP influences collaborative dynamics. The findings highlight the crucial role of IP in enhancing collaborative dynamics, suggesting that well-structured preparatory activities can significantly improve group interaction efficiency. This research contributes valuable insights for refining CSCL instructional strategies, emphasizing the need to balance structured preparation with opportunities for spontaneous interaction to optimize collaborative learning outcomes. By managing distractions and maintaining task focus, educators can create more effective collaborative learning environments.
... To solve the problems mentioned above, some studies designed collaborative computer simulations where each member can control and interact with a shared simulation simultaneously (Jara et al., 2009;van Joolingen et al., 2005). The problems above seemed to be solved, however, collaborative problem solving is a complicated learning activity (Johnson & Johnson, 1991) and most students often failed to collaboratively solve a problem since they were unable to effectively analyze the problem (Lin et al., 2014) and conduct coherent discussion (Barron, 2003). Unfortunately, little research has so far been done to explore the factors why students failed to solve problems together with a collaborative computer simulation. ...
With the development of Web technology, a number of collaborative computer simulations are designed to support collaborative problem solving activities. However, studies show that some students often failed to collaboratively solve a problem with collaborative computer simulation. Little research has so far been done to explore the factors why students failed to solve problems with collaboratively computer simulation. The study designed a problem solving activity with collaborative computer simulation and attempted to identify the key factors to a successful learning task by analyzing students’ perceptions on collaborative problem solving. The implication indicated that, with collaborative computer simulation, communication, coordination, mutual support, and effort may be the key factors to solve the problem.
... Different approaches to measuring engagement can lead to different outcomes (Paneth et al., 2023). Moreover, as these approaches are typically based on video recordings that are manually coded and rated (Derry et al., 2010;Zahn et al., 2021) using, for instance, activity transcripts (e.g., Barron, 2003;Rogat et al., 2022;Zahn et al., 2010), they are cost-intensive and require numerous hours of human labor. Consequently, scaling qualitative approaches to capture the full breadth and depth of behavior in CSCL contexts is challenging (Hmelo-Silver & Jeong, 2021). ...
This study explores the use of natural language processing to automate the evaluation of collaborative group engagement in collaborative learning settings. We evaluated two approaches involving large-language models (LLMs) and a set of interpretable linguistic markers to predict the four dimensions---behavioral, social, cognitive, and conceptual-to-consequential engagement---of the quality of collaborative group engagement (QCGE) model. Analyzing conversation transcripts from three-person student groups engaged in a computer-supported collaborative design task produced four major findings. First, natural language processing successfully predicted out-of-sample about 10\% of variance in collaborative engagement, suggesting that assessment can be automated. Second, interpretable linguistic markers explained more of this variance than did ratings from an intransparent LLM. Third, the best linguistic markers were not specifically related to any individual dimension of QCGE, suggesting a common core of collaborative engagement. Fourth, the QCGE's manual rating model was limited due to its lack of granularity and insensitivity to natural variability in engagement. Overall, our analysis demonstrates both how natural language processing approaches can be leveraged to successfully automate the assessment of collaborative engagement and how these approaches can reveal key insights into the drivers of collaborative engagement.
... Joint attention is an important concept for collaborative learning which refers to the extent to which different people are focused on the same thing (Tomasello, 1995). Theoretically, such mutual engagement can help ground communication (Clark & Brennan, 1991) by supporting people in maintaining and improving shared understanding as they coordinate with each other around an external reference (Barron, 2003). Joint attention aligns with a cognitive constructivist approach to collaborative learning that allows for both individuals and groups as a relevant unit for analysis. ...
While much work in learning analytics focuses on understanding and supporting the individual learner, a great deal of learning activity happens in groups, offering opportunities to generate insight into joint learning practices. How learners interact with each other in support of learning has been a topic of rich theorization for some time, from early work on face-to-face cooperation to more recent attention focused on computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). This chapter unpacks four different relationships between collaborative learning theory and learning analytics (Application, Testing/Refinement, Generation, and Implementation) by examining work related to theories of joint attention, online listening, and knowledge building. Considering the relationship between theory and analytics as mediated by elements of technology, pedagogy, epistemology, and data, the chapter offers guidance for selecting relevant collaborative learning theory for particular analytic uses and overviews central issues to be considered in such use (e.g. group versus individual units of analysis, leveraging constructs and/or process models, inclusion of temporality, appropriate audiences to interpret and act on analytic outputs).
... Autistic children, for instance, are known for lacking the ability to coordinate their visual attention with their caregivers, which is associated with many social impairments, including uneven language development and learning disabilities (Mundy et al., 1990). The importance of joint visual attention (JVA) in learning has been demonstrated for young adult learners both qualitatively (Barron, 2003) and quantitatively (e.g., using eye tracking; Schneider & Bryant, 2024). The results have inspired various interventions to support collaboration and learning, for example through shared gaze visualizations (SGVs). ...
Over the last decade, the prevalence of online learning has dramatically increased. As part of their curriculum, students are expected to spend more and more time watching videos. These videos tend to follow a widespread format: a screen recording of slides with a picture-in-picture (PiP) image of the instructor’s face. While this format is ubiquitous, there is mixed evidence that it supports student learning. In this paper, we explore alternative formats for designing educational videos. Based on prior work showing the significance of joint attention for social learning, we create instructional videos augmented with the instructor’s gaze and/or face. Testing these formats in a semester-long online course using a 2x2 experimental design, we found that showing the instructor’s face had no significant effect on learning, while adding the instructor’s eye-tracking data to the video promoted conceptual understanding of the material. Mediation analysis showed that joint visual attention played a significant mediatory role for learning. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings and formulate recommendations for designing learning videos.
... T. Tuan, 2012). A relational aspect that is hardly mentioned in the literature on stative learning but is undoubtedly relevant is that of personal relationships or friendship (Barron, 2003). Friend support is a learning independence approach in which students who are very invested in their group become tutors for their peers. ...
English is the language that become a worldwide language to use and many individuals from other countries utilize it for communication. Motivation to study English has been identified as the most essential factor influencing students' learning outcomes. The current study used a quantitative methodology and aimed to determine the motivation levels of students studying English as a foreign language at a university in Kampong Cham province. Following permission from school principals and English teachers, 152 students completed the questionnaire. The findings indicate that students in the study situation were driven to learn English more intrinsically than extrinsically. There are significant differences in perception between male and female students. The combination of intrinsic and extrinsic motives suggested that students are somewhat motivated to study English. Because the survey study was conducted on a small scale, a larger sample size and other educational institutions around Cambodia should be used in future studies. Qualitative and mixed-method designs are also strongly encouraged.
... This was motivated by the group interaction literature, which suggests that diversity can be a major contributor to the successfulness of collaborative interactions. The findings for diversity in the literature have explored several different types of diversity, including personality, prior knowledge, gender, and other individual traits (Barron, 2003;Fuchs, Fuchs, Hamlett, & Karns, 1998). These analyses did not suggest any significant influence of role diversity on student or group performance, suggesting, perhaps, that diversity in roles is not an important type of diversity. ...
Roles are one of the most important concepts in understanding human sociocognitive behavior. During group interactions, members take on different roles within the discussion. Roles have distinct patterns of behavioral engagement (i.e., active or passive, leading or following), contribution characteristics (i.e., providing new information or echoing given material), and social orientation (i.e., individual or group). Different combinations of these roles can produce characteristically different group outcomes, being either less or more productive towards collective goals. In online collaborative learning environments, this can lead to better or worse learning outcomes for the individual participants. In this study, we propose and validate a novel approach for detecting emergent roles from the participants' contributions and patterns of interaction. Specifically, we developed a group communication analysis (GCA) by combining automated computational linguistic techniques with analyses of the sequential interactions of online group communication. The GCA was applied to three large collaborative interaction datasets (participant N = 2,429; group N = 3,598). Cluster analyses and linear mixed-effects modeling were used to assess the validity of the GCA approach and the influence of learner roles on student and group performance. The results indicate that participants' patterns in linguistic coordination and cohesion are representative of the roles that individuals play in collaborative discussions. More broadly, GCA provides a framework for researchers to explore the micro intra- and interpersonal patterns associated with the participants' roles and the sociocognitive processes related to successful collaboration.
... These techniques have been found to be more effective by some metrics [1][2][3][4][5], but a number of aspects remain ill understood [6,7]. Much work remains to be completed to better understand these interactive learning environments and the effects they have on student learning [8][9][10]. ...
Group work is becoming increasingly common in introductory physics classrooms. Understanding how students engage in these group learning environments is important for designing and facilitating productive learning opportunities for students. We conducted a study in which we collected video of groups of students working on conceptual electricity and magnetism problems in an introductory physics course. In this setting, students needed to negotiate a common understanding and coordinate group decisions in order to complete the activity successfully. We observed students interacting in several distinct ways while solving these problems. Analysis of these observations focused on identifying the different ways students interacted and articulating what defines and distinguishes them, resulting in the development of the Modes of Collaboration framework. The Modes of Collaboration framework defines student interactions along three dimensions: social, discursive, and disciplinary content. This multi-dimensional approach offers a unique lens through which to consider group work and provides a flexibility that could allow the framework to be adapted for a variety of contexts. We present the framework and several examples of its application here.
... However, the notion of what is 'shared' in collaborative activity, and how it becomes so, has been conceptualised differently in alternative frameworks that contribute to CSCL. There exists a cluster of cognate concepts here, between which there are subtle differences, including at least the "joint problem space" (Roschelle & Teasley, 1995), "grounding" (Clark & Schaeffer, 1989;Baker et al., 1999;Barron, 2003), "intersubjectivity" (Rommetveit, 1979) and even such basic psychological phenomena as perspective-taking and empathy (Järvelä & Häkkinen, 1999). ...
... In an AR sandbox, multi-touch capabilities enabled embodied learning, facilitated collaborative navigation of unknown terrains, and developed spatial thinking (Hod & Twersky, 2020). However, contributions to the shared space might not always be embraced (Barron, 2003). Strategies such as individual and collective prompts aimed at providing information on each role's actions (e.g., Strada et al., 2023) are crucial for guiding the co-construction process effectively, particularly in collaborative learning environments (Stahl et al., 2014). ...
Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environments have been developed to connect learners, whether geographically apart or together, to accomplish shared tasks collaboratively and interactively. Despite the extensive adoption of immersive technologies such as virtual or augmented reality in various educational contexts, the current understanding of the intersection between immersive technologies and collaborative learning remains limited. We argue that identifying affordances of immersive technologies in collaborative learning through synthesizing empirical evidence is crucial for the comprehension of collaboration dynamics and effective integration of immersive technologies in diverse collaborative learning scenarios. In response, this systematic review examines recent literature on immersive technologies in collaborative learning in K-16 settings. Guided by the previously established CSCL affordances, we analyze 40 articles to provide empirical insights into state-of-the-art immersive technologies and design strategies aimed at promoting collaborative learning. Our findings demonstrate the immersive technology applications of a range of CSCL affordances and design strategies aimed at supporting the affordances. We further identify co-presence and embodied immersion as additional affordances, which are unique to immersive technologies. Consequently, we propose the Immersive Technology-Supported Collaborative Learning (ITCL) framework, outlining three key dimensions: context, human, and technology, for harnessing the core affordances of immersive technologies in collaborative learning. Drawing on CSCL literature and principles of immersive learning, our systematic review highlights the importance of the technology affordance perspective and offers empirical insights to advance our understanding of collaborative learning with immersive technologies while offering actionable insights for researchers, educators, and designers.
... By experimenting with various approaches and witnessing the outcomes of their efforts, students can attain a deeper comprehension of the material while honing their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. [38] Additionally, the "make to learn" and "learn by doing" approaches foster creativity and innovation by empowering learners to think outside the conventional boundaries and explore new ideas. This cultivates a growth mindset and a willingness to take risks, both of which are essential qualities for achieving success in any field. ...
Purpose
This study investigates the effects of diversity and specialty on the performance of public research and development (R&D) teams and addresses a gap in research that has largely focused on diversity without adequately considering specialty. It explores the influence of educational background and level, as aspects of diversity, and specialty on team performance and innovation, particularly among leaders and members.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing panel data from the National Science and Technology Information Service and a modified rank-normalized impact factor index for innovation performance, this study differentiates between educational background and level. It examines their influence on the performance of public R&D teams by focusing on the dynamics between diversity and specialty in leader and member groups.
Findings
The study finds that diversity in educational level boosts performance in member groups, whereas “leaders” performance is more closely linked to their educational background and specialty. The results underscore the importance of managing educational diversity and specialty within leader and member groups and highlight the need to avoid a unilateral emphasis on singular necessity.
Originality/value
This study’s novelty lies in its examination of the influence of educational diversity and specialty on innovation performance within the framework of inter-organizational public R&D teams, considering the interaction between these factors among leaders and members. It offers new insights for establishing inter-organizational teams and contributes a unique perspective to the literature on innovation management.
Background
The engineering profession has changed dramatically, and engineers today must work in diverse (multidisciplinary or international) groups. As such, practice in diverse student groupwork can be beneficial to develop all‐round skillsets. However, simply mixing students with different backgrounds into one group is not always effective in engineering group projects.
Purpose
This study investigates how a diverse student group composition is related to group processes and, subsequently, group output, and also to see whether students' positive diversity beliefs influence the relation between diverse student group composition and group processes.
Method
Multilevel analyses were performed on 124 groups to analyze associations between diversity in group compositions (nationality and gender diversity), group processes (task elaboration, shared understanding of the task, and trust in the group), and group outcomes (performance and satisfaction), at both the individual and group level. Positive diversity beliefs were included as moderators.
Results
We found negative group‐level associations between nationality diversity and shared understanding of the task and trust in the group. On the individual level, we found students' relative positive diversity beliefs to be positively associated with their perceptions of all group processes, which, in turn, were positively associated with perceived group performance and satisfaction.
Conclusions
A student group with different nationalities may encounter challenges in group processes, although we did not find direct implications for group performance and group‐level satisfaction. Individual student perceptions of group processes were more clearly associated with outcomes than group‐level aggregates. To facilitate diverse student groupwork, educators need to pay attention to and enhance students' awareness of the value of working in a diverse group.
Purposes
In light of the usefulness theoretical framework, this research seeks to explore the affordances and challenges of integrating a generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tool named ERNIE Bot into the writing feedback process.
Design/Approach/Method
A qualitative design was adopted for this study. Twelve students were purposively chosen as the focal participants. Data came from multiple sources. Semi-structured interviews were used as the primary source, triangulated with other data sources including writing drafts, reviews from peers, and the chatlogs with ERNIE Bot. The data were inductively and deductively analyzed.
Findings
The study highlighted the technological, educational, and social benefits of GenAI feedback, including its timeliness and personalization (technological), its roles as both an essay editor and a responsive tutor (educational), and its ability to provide a supportive environment and an engaging process (social). Three categories of challenges were revealed, namely lack of AI literacy among students, potential risk of worsening writing ability, and inability to catch emotion and to be perceptive.
Originality/Value
Enlightened by the usefulness theoretical framework, the study discovered the technological, educational, and social affordances as well as the limitations of GenAI feedback, which provides insights for the application of GenAI in L2 writing instruction.
In instructional settings involving social interactions, emotions such as discomfort, embarrassment, and shame can be induced by social comparison of competence, judgment from peers, and conflict with other students. As part of the special issue Centering Affect and Emotion Toward Justice and Dignity in Science Education , this paper presents a case study of how four university engineering students in an introductory physics course addressed the emotional discomfort that arose when a hierarchy of competence emerged among group members, to demonstrate two points. First, local hierarchical positionings of who is more or less competent can create vulnerabilities and discomfort, which students can cope with by sharing and relating to each other's negative emotional experiences as engineering majors. This “emotional resonance” can be a resource for helping students locally reposition to find common ground and resist hierarchical positionings. Second, the local construction of hierarchical positioning among students, and the resulting emotional discomfort, can be supported by larger institutional structures and hierarchies within STEM culture. Although emotional resonance can locally alleviate discomfort and help students avoid hierarchical positionings, the legitimacy of positioning some students as “smarter” than others based on institutional labels and other markers of success can be left unchallenged. Therefore, efforts to support student emotions in STEM education should look beyond local interventions and critically examine pathways through which institutional structures and STEM culture can create hierarchical and competitive relations between students, generate feelings of not being “smart” enough, and increase the socioemotional risks of learning.
Стаття присвячена обґрунтуванню проектного навчання як засобу підвищення мотивації учнів 5-6 класів до уроків української мови в умовах освітніх втрат, спричинених пандемією та повномасштабним військовим вторгненням в Україну. В умовах кризових ситуацій, що призвели до значних збоїв у навчальному процесі, зниження пізнавальної активності, психоемоційних труднощів у студентів, зросла потреба в пошуку ефективних методів стимулювання мотивації та інтересу до навчання. Особливу увагу в статті приділено методам і стратегіям, які сприяють підвищенню мотивації учнів до вивчення української мови в періоди невдач у навчанні. Одним із таких ефективних дидактичних ресурсів є проектне навчання, яке активізує навчально-пізнавальну діяльність учнів, сприяє розвитку їхніх пізнавальних і практичних навичок шляхом реалізації проектів, що мають реальне життєве значення. У статті окреслено основні принципи проектного навчання, зокрема поєднання теоретичних знань із практичними завданнями, розвиток критичного мислення, самостійності та навичок командної роботи. Проектне навчання також дає змогу врахувати індивідуальні потреби учнів, сприяє розвитку їх соціальної активності та відповідальності. Крім того, у статті наголошується на психоемоційному аспекті навчання, зокрема на необхідності створення безпечного та комфортного середовища для учнів, які переживають психічні розлади внаслідок війни та інших стресових факторів. Впровадження проектного навчання на уроках української мови під час освітніх втрат може стати потужним засобом не лише виховання стійкої навчальної мотивації учнів, а й розвитку їхньої здатності адаптуватися в умовах невизначеності та кризи, тим самим покращуючи навчальні досягнення.
How teachers position students sends powerful messages about what and who is valued in mathematics and can ultimately impact whether students see themselves as mathematical sense-makers. In this chapter, the authors report on a professional learning intervention where they used digital clinical simulations to explore how mathematics teachers position students with algorithmic responses, (mis)conceptions, and alternative approaches. They found that teachers made substantial changes when facilitating simulated small-group discussions, meaning they created space for all student(s) to share their thinking and positioned them all as sense-makers. However, teachers only minimally changed their approach to simulated whole-class discussions. Though some teachers elected to start their whole-class discussion off with the alternative approaches (concrete and non-algorithmic), simulated students were positioned as strugglers in need of remediation not as valuable contributors.
Emphasis on tracking and ability grouping as sources of inequality and as goals for reform ignores processes of stratification within heterogeneous classrooms. Research literature on effects of classroom status inequality is reviewed. The article presents a test of two interventions derived from expectation states theory and designed to counteract the process of stratification in classrooms using academically heterogeneous small groups. The design focuses on variation in the frequency with which teachers carried out status treatments in 13 elementary school classrooms, all of which were using the same curriculum and the same system of classroom management. There was good support for the hypotheses that the use of status treatments would be associated with higher rates of participation of low-status students and would have no effect on the participation of high-status students. Analysis at the classroom level revealed that more frequent use of these treatments was associated with more equal-status interaction.
The unit of analysis that I use when discussing the 2 sample episodes is that of a class- room mathematical practice together with the students' diverse ways of contributing to its continual regeneration. Analyses cast in terms of this unit account for the mathe- matical learning of the classroom community. As I clarify, a classroom mathematical practice is itself composed of 3 interrelated types of norms: a normative purpose, nor- mative standards of argumentation, and normative ways of reasoning with tools and inscriptions. In keeping with the theme of this special issue, I step back from the sam- ple analysis by focusing on the last of these 3 aspects. In doing so, I introduce the no- tion of a chain of signification to illustrate a way of accounting for mathematical learning in semiotic terms. The dominant view of mathematical symbols as external representations has been challenged in recent years by an alternative perspective that emphasizes the activity of symbolizing. In this newer perspective, the focus of investigations shifts away from the analysis of symbols as external supports for reasoning and moves toward students' participation in practices that involve symbolizing. Rather than describ- ing the properties of tools such as physical devices, computer icons, and notations independently of their use, this perspective treats symbolizing as an integral aspect of mathematical reasoning (Dörfler, 1993; Kaput, 1994; Meira, 1995, 1998; van Oers, 1996). This change in analytic focus is informed by contemporary semiotics and leads to rejection of the view that the process of developing meaning for sym- bols (broadly defined) involves associating them with separate, self-contained ref- erents. Instead, the ways that symbols are used and the meanings they come to have
80 5-year-olds participated in 4 sessions in which they built a replica of a Lego model. During the first session, children's building competence was assessed. Based on their performance, children were classified as either expert or novice builders. Children then participated in 2 sessions in which they built alone or with a partner. There were 3 types of dyads: novice, expert, and mixed ability (expert-novice). Their performance was compared with that of novice and expert singletons. In the final session, children's ability to copy 2 new models was assessed to determine whether they generalized the skills acquired during interaction. Collaboration was more conducive to learning than independent work, and children were able to generalize their skills. However, these conclusions were qualified by the fact that children's expertise and that of their partners, the acquisition of task strategies, the quality of verbal discussion, children's tendency to observe and imitate their partners, and experts' tendency to provide guidance mediated learning.
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In this article we take a close look at the now popular claim that many school subjects, and mathematics among them, are best learned in an interactive way, through conversation with others. Two types of specially devised analytical tools are used to analyze the data coming from a two-month-long series of interactions between two 13-year-old boys learning algebra. Focal analysis gives us a detailed picture of the students' conversation on the level of its immediate mathematical contents and makes it possible to assess the effectiveness of communication. This is complemented by preoccupational analysis, which is directed at meta-messages and examines participants' engagement in the conversation, thus possibly highlighting at least some of the reasons for communication failure. What we managed to see with the help of our special analytic tools led to a two-layered set of conclusions: It changed our opinion on learning-by-talking, and it also forced us to revise some of the basic assumptions with which we began our study. First, while having a close look at the pair of students working together, we realized that the merits of learning-by-talking cannot be taken for granted. Because of the ineffectiveness of the students' communication, the collaboration we had a chance to observe seemed unhelpful and lacking the expected synergetic quality. Second, on the meta-level, we concluded that what can be seen in classrooms does not make much sense as long as thinking is regarded as a self-sustained factor that regulates communication. For us, thinking became an act of communication in itself. This reconceptualization led to the disappearance of several traditional dichotomies that initially barred our insights: the dichotomy between "contents of mind" and the things people say or do; the split between cognition and affect and the distinction between individual and social research perspectives.
The Nature of Insight brings together diverse perspectives, including recent theories and discoveries, to examine the nature and origins of insightful thinking, as well as the history of theory and research on the topic and the methods used to study it. There are chapters by the leading experts in this field, including Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Ronald Finke, Howard Gruber, Marcel Just, David Meyer, David Perkins, Dean Simonton, and Robert Weisberg, among others.
The Nature of Insight is divided into five main parts. Following an introduction that reviews the history and methods of the field, part II looks at how people solve challenging puzzles whose answers cannot be obtained through ordinary means. Part III focuses on how people come up with ideas for new inventions, while part IV explores the thinking of some of the most insightful people in the history of civilization. Part V considers metaphors such as evolution and investment as bases for understanding insight. An epilogue integrates all these approaches.
Contributors R.E. Mayer, R.L. Dominowsk, P. Dallob, C.M. Seifert, D.E. Meyer, N. Davidson, A.J. Patalano, I. Yaniv, J.E. Davidson, R.W. Weisberg, M.L. Gick, R.S. Lockhart, S.M. Smith, R.A. Finke, M.I. Isaak, M.A. Just, M. Csikszentmihalyi, K. Sawyer, K. Dunbar, H.E. Gruber, M.F. Ippolito, R.D. Tweney, D.K. Simonton, D.N. Perkins, R.J. Sternberg, T.I. Lubart
Bradford Books imprint
Discourse, Learning, and Schooling explores theoretical and methodological relationships between childrens' discourse - or socially used language - and their learning in educational settings. Within the fields of education and psychology, the role that discourse plays in social processes of learning and teaching has emerged as a critical, empirical and theoretical question. Authors in this volume address a range of issues, including literacy, authorship, the construction of self and classroom interaction. The chapters range from research studies of classroom discourse to essays reflecting on discourse and literacies. Collectively these chapters reflect both sociocognitive perspectives on relations between discourse, learning, and schooling, and sociocultural perspectives on discourse and literacies among diverse cultural groups.
Understanding Practice brings together the many different perspectives that have been applied to examining social context. From Ole Dreier's work on the therapeutic relationship, to Hugh Mehan's work on learning by disabled students, to Charles and Janet Keller's work on blacksmithing, the chapters form a diverse and fascinating look at situated learning. A distinctive feature of the book is the wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches to the problem of understanding cognition in everyday settings.
Discourse, Learning, and Schooling explores theoretical and methodological relationships between childrens' discourse - or socially used language - and their learning in educational settings. Within the fields of education and psychology, the role that discourse plays in social processes of learning and teaching has emerged as a critical, empirical and theoretical question. Authors in this volume address a range of issues, including literacy, authorship, the construction of self and classroom interaction. The chapters range from research studies of classroom discourse to essays reflecting on discourse and literacies. Collectively these chapters reflect both sociocognitive perspectives on relations between discourse, learning, and schooling, and sociocultural perspectives on discourse and literacies among diverse cultural groups.
To understand the role of language in public life and the social process in general, we need first a closer understanding of how linguistic knowledge and social factors interact in discourse interpretation. This volume is a major advance towards that understanding. Professor Gumperz here synthesizes fundamental research on communication from a wide variety of disciplines - linguistics, sociolinguistics, anthropology and non-verbal communication - and develops an original and broadly based theory of conversational inference which shows how verbal communication can serve either between individuals of different social and ethnic backgrounds. The urgent need to overcome such barriers to effective communication is also a central concern of the book. Examples of conversational exchanges as well as of longer encounters, recorded in the urban United States, village Austria, South Asia and Britain, and analyzed to illustrate all aspects of the analytical approach, and to show how subconscious cultural presuppositions can damagingly affect interpretation of intent and judgement of interspeaker attitude. The volume will be of central interest to anyone concerned with communication, whether from a more academic viewpoint or as a professional working, for example, in the fields of interethnic or industrial relations.
Edwin Hutchins combines his background as an anthropologist and an open ocean racing sailor and navigator in this account of how anthropological methods can be combined with cognitive theory to produce a new reading of cognitive science. His theoretical insights are grounded in an extended analysis of ship navigation—its computational basis, its historical roots, its social organization, and the details of its implementation in actual practice aboard large ships. The result is an unusual interdisciplinary approach to cognition in culturally constituted activities outside the laboratory—"in the wild."
Hutchins examines a set of phenomena that have fallen in the cracks between the established disciplines of psychology and anthropology, bringing to light a new set of relationships between culture and cognition. The standard view is that culture affects the cognition of individuals. Hutchins argues instead that cultural activity systems have cognitive properties of their own that are different from the cognitive properties of the individuals who participate in them. Each action for bringing a large naval vessel into port, for example, is informed by culture: the navigation team can be seen as a cognitive and computational system.
Introducing Navy life and work on the bridge, Hutchins makes a clear distinction between the cognitive properties of an individual and the cognitive properties of a system. In striking contrast to the usual laboratory tasks of research in cognitive science, he applies the principal metaphor of cognitive science—cognition as computation (adopting David Marr's paradigm)—to the navigation task. After comparing modern Western navigation with the method practiced in Micronesia, Hutchins explores the computational and cognitive properties of systems that are larger than an individual. He then turns to an analysis of learning or change in the organization of cognitive systems at several scales. Hutchins's conclusion illustrates the costs of ignoring the cultural nature of cognition, pointing to the ways in which contemporary cognitive science can be transformed by new meanings and interpretations.
Bradford Books imprint
Cambridge Core - Semantics and Pragmatics - Pragmatics - by Stephen C. Levinson
Preface PART 1: TWO NATURAL KINDS 1. Approaching the Literary 2. Two Modes of Thought 3. Possible Castles PART 2: LANGUAGE AND REALITY 4. The Transactional Self 5. The Inspiration of Vygotsky 6. Psychological Reality 7. Nelson Goodman's Worlds 8. Thought and Emotion PART 3: ACTING IN CONSTRUCTED WORLDS 9. The Language of Education 10. Developmental Theory as Culture Afterword Appendix: A Reader's Retelling of "Clay" by James Joyce Notes Credits Index
Moving beyond the general question of effectiveness of small group learning, this conceptual review proposes conditions under which the use of small groups in classrooms can be productive. Included in the review is recent research that manipulates various features of cooperative learning as well as studies of the relationship of interaction in small groups to outcomes. The analysis develops propositions concerning the kinds of discourse that are productive of different types of learning as well as propositions concerning how desirable kinds of interaction may be fostered. Whereas limited exchange of information and explanation are adequate for routine learning in collaborative seatwork, more open exchange and elaborated discussion are necessary for conceptual learning with group tasks and ill-structured problems. Moreover, task instructions, student preparation, and the nature of the teacher role that are eminently suitable for supporting interaction in more routine learning tasks may result in unduly constraining the discussion in less structured tasks where the objective is conceptual learning. The research reviewed also suggests that it is necessary to treat problems of status within small groups engaged in group tasks with ill-structured problems. With a focus on task and interaction, the analysis attempts to move away from the debates about intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and goal and resource interdependence that have characterized research in cooperative learning.
Reviewed 122 studies (listed in an appendix) and compared the relative effectiveness of cooperation, cooperation with intergroup competition, interpersonal competition, and individualistic goal structures in promoting achievement and productivity in North American samples. These studies yielded 286 findings. Three meta-analysis procedures were used: voting method, effect-size method, and z-score method. Results indicate that (a) cooperation is considerably more effective than interpersonal competition and individualistic efforts, (b) cooperation with intergroup competition is also superior to interpersonal competition and individualistic efforts, and (c) there is no significant difference between interpersonal competitive and individualistic efforts. Through multiple regression, a number of potentially mediating variables for these results are identified. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Preface 1. Introduction 2. Some context for Context Analysis: a view of the origins of structural studies of face-to-face interaction 3. Some functions of gaze direction in two-person conversation 4. Movement co-ordination in social interaction 5. Some functions of the face in a kissing round 6. A description of some human greetings 7. Spatial organisation in social encounters: the F-formation system 8. Behavioural foundations for the process of frame-attunement in face-to-face interaction List of films cited References Index.
Scales assessing Task Orientation (where the goal is to gain understanding) and Ego Orientation (where the goal is to be superior to others) in mathematics were administered to six second-grade classes with a total of 102 students. Task Orientation was associated with the beliefs that success in mathematics is fostered by effort, attempts to make sense of things, and cooperation with one's peers. Ego Orientation was associated with the beliefs that success depends on superior ability and attempts to beat others. Perceived ability was not appreciably associated with these motivational orientations. One second-grade class that had experienced, for one year, mathematics instruction consistent with a constructivist view rated higher than traditional classes on Task Orientation, beliefs that success depends on attempts to understand, and cooperation with peers. This class was lower on the desire for superiority over one's friends (an aspect of Ego Orientation), desire to avoid work, and beliefs that success depends on superior ability. It did not differ from others on perceived ability. The results suggest the validity of the present scales and the value of employing a wider than usual range of indices when assessing the outcomes of mathematics teaching practices.
In this report I offer an exploration of the insights that may be provided by a situated perspective on learning. Through an extension of my previous analysis of students learning mathematics in 2 schools (Boaler, 1998), I consider the ways in which a focus on the classroom community and the behaviors and practices implicit within such communities may increase one's understanding of students' mathematical knowledge production and use. The implications of such a focus for classroom pedagogy and assessment as well as for research in mathematics education are considered.
University-school partnerships hold great promise for establishing innovative computer-science curricula and investigating how students learn and appropriate technologies for their own use. Here we highlight an interdisciplinary design work and describe a novel approach to the assessment of student growth.
The paper describes the changes that are being made in the mathematics teachers' subject studies in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Joensuu, in order to provide our mathematics students both with a sufficiently deep knowledge of mathematics and science, and with present-day expertise in their profession as teachers. While the formal structure of the mathematics curriculum remains structured and taught as courses with mostly traditional names like algebra, analysis, and linear algebra, there are also totally new 'professionally oriented' courses. Some of the old courses with rather traditional and rigorous contents have been changed in a more student-driven direction. In these 'pedagogically oriented' courses students are encouraged, and even forced, to study co-operatively in social interaction, for example to negotiate how to solve a problem decently, or how to build a formal definition for a concept with certain wanted attributes. As an ultimate example of a pedagogical experiment we describe in more detail an abstract algebra course, where co-operative learning is combined with intensive programming in a mathematically oriented computer environment.
Most previous research on human cognition has focused on problem-solving, and has confined its investigations to the laboratory. As a result, it has been difficult to account for complex mental processes and their place in culture and history. In this startling - indeed, disco in forting - study, Jean Lave moves the analysis of one particular form of cognitive activity, - arithmetic problem-solving - out of the laboratory into the domain of everyday life. In so doing, she shows how mathematics in the 'real world', like all thinking, is shaped by the dynamic encounter between the culturally endowed mind and its total context, a subtle interaction that shapes 1) Both tile human subject and the world within which it acts. The study is focused on mundane daily, activities, such as grocery shopping for 'best buys' in the supermarket, dieting, and so on. Innovative in its method, fascinating in its findings, the research is above all significant in its theoretical contributions. Have offers a cogent critique of conventional cognitive theory, turning for an alternative to recent social theory, and weaving a compelling synthesis from elements of culture theory, theories of practice, and Marxist discourse. The result is a new way of understanding human thought processes, a vision of cognition as the dialectic between persons-acting, and the settings in which their activity is constituted. The book will appeal to anthropologists, for its novel theory of the relation of cognition to culture and context; to cognitive scientists and educational theorists; and to the 'plain folks' who form its subject, and who will recognize themselves in it, a rare accomplishment in the modern social sciences.
This chapter identifies a class of worksites characterizable in terms of participants' ongoing orientation to problems of space and time, involving the deployment of people and equipment across distances according either to a timetable or to the emergent requirements of a time-critical situation. To meet simultaneous requirements of mobility and control, centers of coordination must function as centers to which participants distributed in space can orient, and which at any given moment they know how to find. At the same time, to coordinate activities distributed in space and time personnel within the site must somehow have access to the situation of co-workers in other locations. One job of technologies in such settings is to meet these requirements through the reconfiguration of relevant spatial and temporal relations. This general characterization is explored through ethnographic materials from an investigation of the work of airline ground operations at a metropolitan airport on the west coast of the United States.
This study uses the concept of division of labor to investigate the comparative uses of media in 2 organizational settings (a middle school classroom and a professional architecture firm). In both settings, participants used both computer and paper-based media in architectural project work. This study found that, in both settings, collaborative labor was divided between designers who worked on paper and draftspersons who worked with computers. The analysis compares the origins of these divisions of labor and finds important similarities in the reasons for the divisions of labor and important differences in the implications of the divisions of labor for participants. The analysis links the similarities to the comparative affordances of different media for supporting collaboration and links the differences to how the 2 environments differently evaluated its participants as individuals and as members of a group. Technology is never purely technological: it is also social. The social is never purely social: it is technological. This is something easy to say but difficult to work with. So much of our language and so many of our practices reflect a determined, culturally ingrained propensity to treat the two as if they were quite separate from one another.
The purpose of this study was to examine high-achieving students' interactions and performances on complex mathematics tasks as a function of homogeneous versus heterogeneous pairings. Participants were third and fourth graders who had been trained in, and had routinely practiced, constructive peer-tutoring interactions and had experience working individually on performance assessments. We videotaped 10 high achievers working with a high-achieving and with a low-achieving classmate on performance assessments. Results indicated that homogeneous dyads operated more collaboratively, generated greater cognitive conflict and resolution, and produced better quality work. Implications are discussed in terms of optimizing grouping arrangements during collaborative learning activities and preparing students to work productively together on complex tasks.
The present paper reviews the extant literature on collaborative everyday problem solving in older adulthood and explicates the contexts, functions, forms, and processes of collaboration in daily life. In this review, we examine collaboration as it occurs in the daily lives of older adults in addition to the specified intelligence-like tasks more typical of the current literature. Drawing from multiple literatures that have examined collaboration, including sociocultural perspectives within child development, life-span cognition, educational psychology, and social psychology, we illuminate the changing contexts of collaboration across the life span and examine the role of potential collaborators, the multiplicity of forms and functions of collaboration, and the social processes that may facilitate or hinder collaborative performance.
Three experiments examined whether group cognitions generate a product that is not easily ascribed to the cognitions that similar individuals have working alone. In each study, secondary-school students solved novel problems working either as individuals or in two-person groups called dyads. An examination of their problem-solving representations demonstrated that the dyads constructed abstractions well above the rate one would expect given a "most competent member" model of group performance applied to the empirical rate of individual abstractions. In the first experiment, dyads induced a numerical parity rule for determining the motions of linked gears four times more often than individuals, who instead tended to rely exclusively on modeling the gears' physical behaviors. In a second experiment requiring the construction of visualizations on the topic of biological transmissions, dyads made abstract visualizations (e.g., directed graphs) significantly more often than individuals. In a third experiment requiring a visualization of organisms and their habitat requirements, dyads made abstract visualizations (e.g., matrices) five times more often than individuals, who instead tended to draw pictures. These results are striking because a long history of experimentation has found little evidence that group performances can match the performances of the most competent individuals, let alone exceed them. The extremely high frequency of abstract representations among dyads suggests that the abstract representations emerged from collaborative cognitions not normally available to isolated individuals. The results are interpreted to be a natural result of the collaborative task demand of creating a common ground. To facilitate discourse, dyads negotiated a common representation that could serve as a touchstone for coordinating the members' different perspectives on the problem. Because the representation bridged multiple perspectives of the problem structure, it tended...
