How Children Regulate their Own Collaborative Learning

Abstract

How children regulate their own collaborative learningDekker, R.; Elshout-Mohr, M.; Wood, T. Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. In this article we analyze the dialogic learning of one pair of students in order to investigate how these students cope with a collaborative learning situation in the classroom. Our aim is to substantiate the claims that not only are young students (8 year olds) capable of solving mathematical problems collaboratively, but that they also take an active role in regulating their collaborative learning activities. More specifically, our claim is that children appear to apply constructs of 'mathematical level raising', 'social interaction' and 'division of time' to steer their own collaborative learning and that they are rather successful in balancing these three aspects. The analysis is exploratory, but this new perspective on collaborative learning is relevant theoretically and consequential for classroom practice.

Learning to Design in Small Group Mathematical Modeling

“…:.ml-iic..m rdated to aspects of tre design process descrihed in Figure 10.1. The coding categories for interaction patterns w5ed in the second step were origJially developed for coding interaction in classrooms (Wood, et al, 1999) and student pairs (Dekker, Eishout-Mohr, & Woo:J, 2004, 2006, and adapted for this study to include design-related designations. These interaction codes were inserted in the third column mId Hligned wit.h the corre:;poncHng line in the transcrqlt.…”

Children's views of collaborative learning

“…This could have been because their experiences of working in groups had been mixed, as indicated, or an indication that the benefits of working collaboratively had not been made known to them and discussed more explicitly. That children are not always conscious of the effects of collaborative learning is supported by Dekker, Elshout-Mohr, and Wood (2006) who found that children's helping and other behaviours were often more intuitive than deliberate.…”

“…Additional evidence that communication skills are central to achieving effective collaborative learning was also found by Garton and Pratt (2001) who concluded that children with comparatively greater communication skills and a facility with language were able to enhance the learning of others by working on joint tasks together. The importance of children's capacity to help each other was also illustrated in a case study by Dekker, Elshout-Mohr, and Wood (2006) who showed that two children were able to intuitively monitor their working partnership without the need for instruction or outside intervention. This supports the idea that social skills are important to collaborative learning but questions the assumption that children need to be taught.…”

Learning Environments and Learning Achievement in the Russian Federation: How School Infrastructure and Climate Affect Student Success

“…research suggests that flexible spaces can encourage more effective teaching (Anderson-Butcher et al 2010; Oblinger and Lippincott 2006), team teaching, better planning, use of more diverse pedagogies, and focus on personalized learning. Flexible spaces can also encourage students to be self-reliant learners capable of working in groups (Dekker, Elshout-mohr, and Wood 2006;Fielding 2006).…”