Talking through the problems: a study of discourse in peer-led small groups

Abstract

Increasingly, studies are investigating the factors that influence student discourse in science courses, and specifically the mechanisms and discourse processes within small groups, to better understand the learning that takes place as students work together. This paper contributes to a growing body of research by analyzing how students engage in conversation and work together to solve problems in a peer-led small-group setting. This qualitative study evaluates video of Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) sessions in general chemistry, with attention to both the activity structures and the function of discourse as students undertook different types of problems across one semester. Our findings suggest that students talk their way through the problems; practicing a combination of regulative and instructional language to manage the group dynamics of their community of peer learners while developing and using specific disciplinary vocabulary. Additionally, student discourse patterns revealed a focus on the process of complex problem-solving, where students engage in joint decision-making by taking turns, questioning and explaining, and building on one another's ideas. While students in our study engaged in less of the deeper, meaning-making discourse than expected, these observations about the function of language in small-group learning deepens an understanding of how PLTL and other types of small-group learning based on the tenets of social constructivism may lead to improvements in science education, with implications for the structure of small-group learning environments, problem design, and training of peer group leaders to encourage students to engage in more of the most effective discourse in these learning contexts.

Cooperative learning in organic chemistry increases student assessment of learning gains in key transferable skills

“…Repice and coworkers observed small groups working to solve chemistry problems and note, ''students engage in joint decisionmaking by taking turns, questioning and explaining, and building on one another's ideas'' (Repice et al, 2016). Clearly, students in our experimental group could see the value in the practice of professional skills with peers in enhancing their learning.…”

Factors Influencing Quality of Team Discussion: Discourse Analysis in an Undergraduate Team-Based Learning Biology Course

“…While our use of the term "conceptual explanation" is similar to how Repice et al (2016) use it to describe students making meaning and making sense around numbers, equations, and diagrams, our definition differs, mainly because of the differences in the disciplinary subject matter being discussed in our respective studies. We define conceptual explanations as stretches of talk in which one or more students in the group produced a hypothesis of physiological functioning that was not simply fact based but drew upon a conceptual understanding of the human body as a system.…”

“…The kind of task that questions prompt students to undertake may also affect discussion quality. Repice et al (2016) found in PLTL groups that a data-analysis prompt (as opposed to other kinds of prompts, especially those that focused primarily on calculations) guided students into a mode of discourse that led to conceptual explanations. This mode of discourse included students asking one another what the authors defined as "open questions," which were those that tended to facilitate or draw out further elaboration of ideas rather than focus attention on a specific item of content or procedure.…”

“…We wanted to explore what provokes the sorts of explanations that we are most interested in seeing, that is, explanations that go beyond statements of basic facts and into disciplinary reasoning. Eliciting such reasoning is one of the major underlying motivations behind group learning pedagogies, as described by Repice et al (2016) in their study of student discussions during peer-led team learning (PLTL). They noted that when solving problems in an introductory chemistry course that primarily involved calculations, data analysis, or model building, students' statements that described pertinent concepts or realworld connections were the smallest proportion of their discourse.…”

Low Field NMR Determination of pKa Values for Hydrophilic Drugs for Students in Medicinal Chemistry

“…The work of the students was facilitated with pre-leaders and instructors. The small group learning setting is very beneficial [13].…”