Social processes and creative collaboration in children

Although there is an extensive body of literature that investigates the process and outcomes of children’s collaboration on scientific reasoning tasks, very little work has focussed on the nature and quality of children’s collaboration on creative tasks. One study reported here used a questionnaire to music teachers to ask about their typical design of musical tasks in the classroom and the factors that influenced these decisions. A further study reported here investigated the effects of friendship, gender and previous musical experience upon the interactional processes and musical outcome of children’s collaborative compositions. The design included comparison between friendship pairs and non-friendship pairs and also between males and females, with 11–12 year old children at an English middle school. All pairs consisted of one child with previous musical experience and one child without. All compositional sessions were video taped and the musical and verbal elements were coded with reference to the proportion of transactive and non-transactive elements present. Results demonstrated that the communication (both verbal and musical) between the friendship pairs was qualitatively different from the communication in the non-friendship pairs. Specifically, the friendship pairs showed more transactive communication and, when a teacher rated the final compositions, the friendship pairs scored significantly higher. Multiple regression analysis highlighted that the amount of transactive communication was a significant predicator of the quality of the children’s composition. The results are discussed with reference to the nature of communication, the impact of friendship and the assessment of creative work.     

The mediating effect of task presentation on collaboration and children’s acquisition of scientific reasoning

There has been considerable research concerning peer interaction and the acquisition of children’s scientific reasoning. This study investigated differences in collaborative activity between pairs of children working around a computer with pairs of children working with physical apparatus and related any differences to the development of children’s scientific reasoning. Children aged between 9 and 10 years old (48 boys and 48 girls) were placed into either same ability or mixed ability pairs according to their individual, pre-test performance on a scientific reasoning task. These pairs then worked on either a computer version or a physical version of Inhelder and Piaget’s (1958) chemical combination task. Type of presentation was found to mediate the nature and type of collaborative activity. The mixed-ability pairs working around the computer talked proportionally more about the task and management of the task; had proportionally more transactive discussions and used the record more productively than children working with the physical apparatus. Type of presentation was also found to mediated children’s learning. Children in same ability pairs who worked with the physical apparatus improved significantly more than same ability pairs who worked around the computer. These findings were partially predicted from a socio-cultural theory and show the importance of tools for mediating collaborative activity and collaborative learning.     

Investigating the relationship between transactive memory and performance in collaborative learning

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationships between the three dimensions of transactive memory (coordination, credibility, and specialization) and performance of collaborating students. A total of 113 students, distributed into groups of two or three, participated in the study. They were required to complete a series of learning tasks during the semester and to write a joint report for each task to be evaluated by their instructors. Afterwards, they were asked to fill out a questionnaire including self-report measures of transactive memory. The results showed a well-established positive relationship between transactive memory and performance based essentially on coordination; also, performance improved linearly as members developed specializations within groups. Implications for future research in collaborative learning are discussed.     

The impact of transactive memory system and interaction platform in collaborative knowledge construction on social presence and self-regulation

The purpose of this study is to examine the impacts of transactive memory system (TMS) and interaction platforms in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) on social presence perceptions and self-regulation skills of learners. Within the scope of the study, social presence perceptions and self-regulation skills of students in collaborative groups constructing knowledge in wiki, blog, podcast and Facebook platforms in CSCL processes were compared. The study is designed as a pretest and post-test control group study and was carried out with 97 university students. Social presence and self-regulation scales were administered as pretest in the study. At the end of process, social presence, self-regulation, transactive memory scales and semi-structured student opinion forms were administered as post-test. When the findings were examined, it was seen that interaction platforms and the TMS level of the group did not have a significant impact on social presence perception individually; yet common impact of these two variables was significant. When the impact of interaction platforms and the TMS on self-regulation skills was examined, it was found that whilst interaction platforms had a significant impact, the TMS alone and interaction platforms–TMS common impact were not significant.     

Mediated activity in the primary classroom: girls,boys and computers

Seven and 9-year-old children (n=120) worked in same or mixed gender pairs on a language-based computer and non-computer task, and their styles of social interaction were compared. At both ages, mixed gender pairs showed more assertive and less transactive (collaborative) interaction than same gender pairs on both tasks. When collaboration broke down, boys on the computer task and girls on the non-computer task dominated assertive interaction in mixed gender pairs, whereas in same gender pairs both children were equally assertive. The mediational role of the computer and the social dynamics that frame its use are discussed.     

Effects of gender role and task content on performance in same-gender dyads: Transactive memory as a potential mediator

This experiment was designed to examine the effects of gender role and task content on performance in learning dyads and to test the potential mediator effect of an intragroup process related to transactive memory. A total of 44 same-gender dyads participated in the study and were asked to collaborate on a stereotypically masculine or feminine task in a laboratory setting. Collective performance and transactive memory were measured. As predicted, the results showed an interaction between group gender and task content on group performance, with male dyads showing poorer performance on a masculine task than female dyads. However, contrary to expectations, this moderation effect was not mediated by transactive memory, which appeared as a simple mediator of the relationship between group gender and performance. The results are discussed in the framework of the social role theory, and implications for future research in small learning groups are proposed.     

基于BBS的异步协作学习互动研究

网络环境下的异步协作学习方式越来越受到教育工作者的关注,因为它能够为学习者提供延时性交流与协作环境,便于学习者能够以小组或个人的形式参与到学习讨论之中。为了探讨基于BBS的异步协作学习互动过程,通过以案例形式进行实证性研究,其中,运用了会话内容分析法、调查法等方法,对异步协作学习活动中的帖子总体数量情况、各组发帖时间情况、帖子间关系情况以及基于知识建构模型的异步协作学习过程进行了详细的分析。研究结果表明,异步协作学习活动促进了学生的自主学习能力的发展,但是在活动中存在的问题值得教育工作者的思考。因此,研究对于指导异步协作学习互动活动的开展具有积极的参考价值。     

Support of the collaborative inquiry learning process: influence of support on task and team regulation

Regulation of the learning process is an important condition for efficient and effective learning. In collaborative learning, students have to regulate their collaborative activities (team regulation) next to the regulation of their own learning process focused on the task at hand (task regulation). In this study, we investigate how support of collaborative inquiry learning can influence the use of regulative activities of students. Furthermore, we explore the possible relations between task regulation, team regulation and learning results. This study involves tenth-grade students who worked in pairs in a collaborative inquiry learning environment that was based on a computer simulation, Collisions, developed in the program SimQuest. Students of the same team worked on two different computers and communicated through chat. Chat logs of students from three different conditions are compared. Students in the first condition did not receive any support at all (Control condition). In the second condition, students received an instruction in effective communication, the RIDE rules (RIDE condition). In the third condition, students were, in addition to receiving the RIDE rules instruction, supported by the Collaborative Hypothesis Tool (CHT), which helped the students with formulating hypotheses together (CHT condition). The results show that students overall used more team regulation than task regulation. In the RIDE condition and the CHT condition, students regulated their team activities most often. Moreover, in the CHT condition the regulation of team activities was positively related to the learning results. We can conclude that different measures of support can enhance the use of team regulative activities, which in turn can lead to better learning results.     

Social effects of collaborative learning in primary schools

There is conflicting evidence on whether collaborative group work leads to improved classroom relations, and if so how. A before and after design was used to measure the impact on work and play relations of a collaborative learning programme involving 575 students 9–12 years old in single- and mixed-age classes across urban and rural schools. Data were also collected on student interactions and teacher ratings of their group-work skills. Analysis of variance revealed significant gains for both types of relation. Multilevel modelling indicated that better work relations were the product of improving group skills, which offset tensions produced by transactive dialogue, and this effect fed through in turn to play relations. Although before intervention rural children were familiar with each other neither this nor age mix affected outcomes. The results suggest the social benefits of collaborative learning are a separate outcome of group work, rather than being either a pre-condition for, or a direct consequence of successful activity, but that initial training in group skills may serve to enhance these benefits.     

Using Concept Maps to Facilitate Collaborative Simulation-Based Inquiry Learning

This study investigates the effect of a shared concept-mapping task on high school students' learning about kinematics in a collaborative simulation-based inquiry setting. Pairs of students were randomly assigned to a concept-mapping condition (12 pairs) or a control condition (13 pairs). Students in the concept-mapping condition had a computer-supported collaborative concept-mapping tool that aimed to integrate concepts and propositions. Students in the control condition used the same learning environment without the concept-mapping tool. Students' interactions with each other and with the simulation were tracked by log files. Learning was assessed with tests of intuitive and structural knowledge and a proposition test. Students in the concept-mapping condition exchanged significantly more chat messages related to experimentation, interpretation, and drawing conclusions and were more engaged in integration-oriented consensus building, which regression analysis showed to be positively related to learning gains for both intuitive and structural knowledge. Students in the concept-mapping condition outperformed their peers on the intuitive and structural knowledge tests. These results suggest that concept maps can positively influence consensus-building activities and learning in a collaborative inquiry-learning setting. The findings of the current study thereby contribute to the ongoing debate about (shared) graphical representations as scaffolds for collaborative learning.     

智能教学系统中支持协作学习的群体感知模型

自主学习和协作学习是相互促进、相互依赖的网络学习方式。然而,目前典型的网络学习系统(智能教学系统和计算机支持的协作学习系统)大多将自主学习和协作学习强制分离,忽视了自主学习过程中协作交流的激励作用以及协作学习过程中学习者的自主学习需求。因此,扩展现有的智能教学系统,构建一个自主学习和协作学习有机融合的数字化学习环境,有助于更好地满足网络环境下师生的学习需求。支持协作学习的群体感知模型由群体感知信息、群体感知本体和群体感知规则三部分组成,采用本体技术建模协作感知信息,运用语义Web规则语言刻画协作感知机制,为实现协作学习的信息交互提供通用模型。基于该模型构建的智能教学系统,在原有ITS自主学习环境的基础上,扩展了参与者可以相互感知、相互交流的协作学习模块,实现与现有智能教学系统的无缝整合,为开发具有协作学习功能的智能教学系统提供了技术参考。     

Exploring the views of students on the use of Facebook in university teaching and learning

Facebook use among students is almost ubiquitous; however, its use for formal academic purposes remains contested. Through an online survey monitoring student use of module Facebook pages and focus groups, this study explores students’ current academic uses of Facebook and their views on using Facebook within university modules. Students reported using Facebook for academic purposes, notably peer–peer communication around group work and assessment – a use not always conceptualised by students as learning. Focus groups revealed that students are not ready or equipped for the collaborative style of learning envisaged by the tutor and see Facebook as their personal domain, within which they will discuss academic topics where they see a strong relevance and purpose, notably in connection with assessment. Students use Facebook for their own mutually defined purposes and a change in student mind- and skill-sets is required to appropriate the collaborative learning benefits of Facebook in formal educational contexts.     

The effects of digital storytelling on student achievement,social presence,and attitude in online collaborative learning environments

This study investigated the effects of digital storytelling on student achievement, social presence, and attitude in online collaborative learning environments. Students in one middle school course were randomly assigned to one of the two treatment groups after they received initial general instruction regarding teamwork skills. The “digital storytelling-based online collaborative learning (DST-OCL)” and the “general online collaborative learning (G-OCL)” groups received subsequent associated skills training. The overall results indicated that after each group took part in the treatment during online collaborative learning activities, the “DST-OCL” groups had significantly higher social presence than the “G-OCL” groups. Specifically, using “DST-OCL” strategies was significantly more effective than using “G-OCL” strategies for improving the “online communication,” “interactivity,” and “privacy” components of students’ social presence in online collaborative learning environments. There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding student achievement and attitude. The findings of this study offer an insight into methods for using digital storytelling as an instructional strategy for improving online collaborative learning effectiveness.     

Communication Patterns of African American Girls and Boys from Low-Income, Urban Backgrounds

This study investigated gender effects on the conversational strategies used among 106 African American children ( mean age = 7 years) from urban, low-income family backgrounds. Same- and mixed-gender pairs of children from the same grade level in an inner-city school were provided with toy bear puppets and asked to play together for 5 min. Conversations were coded using Leaper's Psychosocial Processes Coding Scheme, which classifies communication acts as either collaborative, controlling, informing, obliging, or withdrawing. Girls and boys were more similar than different. However, gender-related variations were found. Boys were more likely than girls to use controlling acts and domineering exchanges in same-gender pairs but not in mixed-gender pairs. Girls were more likely than boys to use a combination of collaborative and informing acts. For partner gender effects we found that controlling acts and domineering exchanges were less likely — whereas informing acts were more likely — to take place when children were matched with a girl than when they were matched with a boy. Findings replicate many of the gender effects on communication style reported in a prior study (Leaper, 1991) that used a similar procedure and coding strategy with a sample of middle-income children from mostly European American backgrounds.     

The influence of a peer-tutoring training model for implementing cooperative groupings with elementary students

This study examined the effects of peer-tutoring training on elementary school student communication and collaboration skills when used in conjunction with cooperative learning. Within six classes (grades 2–6) in an inner-city school, cooperative learning pairs were randomly assigned to two groups (control and training). Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) of quantitative data from a systematic observation instrument used over an entire year showed that, in general, the training group surpassed the control group in both communication and collaborative skills. Students in grades 2–3 showed substantially more improvement than students in grades 4–6; also, students with average or below-average reading levels required more time to acquire these skills than did above-average students. The qualitative data further substantiated these findings while revealing a large variation among teachers in implementing cooperative learning. and is Editor of the Research section of this journal.     

Supporting Communication in a Collaborative Discovery Learning Environment: the Effect of Instruction

We present a study on the effect of instruction on collaboration in a collaborative discovery learning environment. The instruction we used, called RIDE, is built upon four principles identified in the literature on collaborative processes: Respect, Intelligent collaboration, Deciding together, and Encouraging. In an experimental study, a group of learners (ages 15–17) receiving this instruction was compared to a control group. The learners worked in dyads on separate computers in a shared discovery learning environment in the physics domain of collisions, communicating through a chat channel. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the logged actions in the learning environment and the chat protocols showed that the RIDE instruction can lead to more constructive communication, and improved discovery learning activities, as expected, although no direct effect on discovery learning results was found. This study shows the benefits of providing instruction on effective communication and the learning process in a collaborative discovery learning situation.     

Collaborative talk in mathematics – contrasting examples from third graders

There is a substantial body of knowledge on the importance of language for learning in general, and for learning mathematics in particular. Hence, language skills and collaborative learning are emphasised in the Norwegian curriculum. Even so, we have few studies on what supports and what impedes mathematical progress in authentic learning situations. In this article, we investigate contrasting dialogues between two pairs of eight-year-old pupils solving mathematical tasks. The analysis in our video-based study shows that both communication skills and use of tools have a profound impact on third graders’ potential to solve tasks as a joint enterprise.     

从基于网络的协作学习探讨网络教育的服务性

多媒体计算机和网络通信技术的发展为人们创造了一个新的教育环境和学习环境.于是出现了网络教育这一新的教育形式,而且相对于传统教育它越来越显示出自己的优势.本文探讨了作为网络教学主要形式的基于Internet的协作学习,着重论述了它的理论基础.从基于Internet的协作学习所体现的"以学习者为中心"的教育理念,阐述了网络教育所具有的服务性质.并且指出以学习者为中心向他们提供更多的优质服务是网络教育的发展方向.     

Teaching collaborative skills with a group leader computer tutor

This paper discusses how a group leader computer tutor may aid students in learning collaborative skills in a co-operative learning environment. However, students need to learn collaborative skills and practice using them. The group leader computer tutor discussed in this paper is designed on the principles of co-operative learning, intelligent tutoring systems and computer-supported collaborative work within an intelligent collaborative learning system (ICLS). The group leader aims to facilitate group work on the task level and to teach students how to use collaborative skills in the discussion level as students work on networked computers in the Jigsaw method of co-operative learning. The ICLS and its group leader were used by two classes at a liberal arts university. Qualitative research shows that the students' co-operative attitudes changed and academic achievement improved from pre- to post-treatment. Students, especially, used the communication skill of openness in comment type discussions. The students enjoyed working collaboratively through the ICLS and their teachers thought that the experience was valuable for them.