Recent studies of the role of peer interaction in cognitive development show the existence of various interactive modes of co-construction from the ages of 4 or 5. The present article offers a theoretical and methodological approach to the study of socio-cognitive interaction in younger children, including infants. Observation of spontaneous object-centered activities among familiar peers aged 2 to 4 years, 18 to 24 months, and infants 13 to 17 months showed different modes of collaboration, such as observation/elaboration, co-construction, and guided activity, in each age group. The main socio-cognitive processes were highly similar across all groups and resemble those reported in experimental problem-solving studies involving older children. It is argued that the roots of basic peer interaction patterns reach back into infancy. The similarities across age levels suggest a functional continuity between the prelinguistic and linguistic periods of development.
The constructivist and interactionist approach to cognitive development emphasises the importance of the active participation of children in social interactions and their contribution to knowledge acquisition. Peer tutoring is one way of making such a contribution. During the preschool period, children develop specific skills that allow them to assist and guide less competent peers through the learning process. This study was aimed at gaining insight into the potentials of tutoring in young children, and at demonstrating the role of the symmetrical relationship which prevails in peer interaction in expert-novice problem-solving activity. An adult trained 24 boys and girls for a building task. The young “experts” were then observed with 48 same- and different-age novices of the same sex. The results showed that already at this young age, the experts and novices exhibited asymmetric interactions fulfilling the essential functions of tutoring. The tutors geared their actions to the task demands but were not yet sensitive to the novice’s needs. Qualitative analysis of interactive episodes indicate that the symmetrical nature of the two partners’ skills and statuses brought the tutoring closer to several forms of co-operation or to specific parallel work: While guiding the partner, the expert child shared the problem-solving activity with the novice, consolidating his/her own know-how at the same time. The shift—under some circumstances—from asymmetrical interactions to symmetrical co-elaboration suggests a new conception of sociocognitive functioning in the construction of knowledge.
The aim of this study is to highlight the influence of the sociorelational context in expert-novice problem solving situation.~assume that a hole range of interactive organizations coexist and vary as a function of the asymmetry of the relationships affected by the mastery o.{ the task and differences in partners status. Thirty six first graders aged 6;6 (18 hight achievers and 18 low achievers) were observed during a construction task. Hight achieving experts wereassignedto low achieving novices and vice-versa. As predicted, when hight achieving status was associeted with task relatedexpertise(rei!iforced asymmetry) the interactive dynamic was chieflY caracterised by guidance/tutoring. In contrast, when low achieving status was associated with task related expertise (counter balanced asymmetry), a variety of dynamics wereabserved most of which were either cooperative or exhibited reverse guidance by the hight achieving novice. Guidance management by the experts also differed between the reinforced and counter balanced conditions. The findings argue for a pluridimensional approach to socio-cognitive modes of aquisition:The study of tutoring interactions is one of the key concerns of educators and researchers who take an interest in the problems of acquisition of knowledge and knowhows in social contexts. The contribution of peer interaction has been shown to be of crucial importance. The aim of this study is to show that a whole range of modes of interactive organization coexist in expert-novice problem solving activity and that they vary as a function of the asymmetry of the relationships, affected by differential mastery of a specific task and differences in partner status.Numerous investigations have been devoted to mechanisms of progress and change in a whole host of contexts (developmental tasks or problem solving for example) and at different ages, in particular in school age children. Authors working in the area of progress mechanisms in problem solvingsituations (in the broad sense) tend to stress different interactive mechanisms. Some point to the efficiency of guidance-tutoring and emphasize help by the more skilledThe study reported in this article was conducted in a research unit affiliated with the C.N.R.S. (URA 1353).
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