Group work with the computer: the developing organisation of joint action

This article is concerned with joint problem-solving at the computer. In particular it is concerned with the organisation of joint activity in this context (ie. the distribution and exchange of actions), and with the way in which children master the relationship between their action-organisation and the task objective. A study is reported in which pairs of 7 and 13 years olds worked on a variety of computer-based tasks involving construction of a complex motion trajectory on a display screen. Some of the pairs at both ages remained oriented toward the external characteristics of the pattern they were tracing. By contrast, some of the older pairs were very clearly oriented towards the means of pattern construction, rather than to the pattern itself. Such orientation, displayed in varying degrees by different pairs of subjects across the two samples, was reflected in the ability not only to maintain but also to successfully alter and reconstruct the coordination of individual into joint actions in the course of solving complex variants of the task.