Talking and Working Together: Conditions for Learning in Complex Instruction.

The hypothesis that when true group tasks feature ill-structured problems, interaction will predict learning that involves higher-order thinking skills was tested with middle school students with a strategy called complex instruction. Complex instruction is designed for heterogeneous classrooms in which teaching objectives are conceptual and stress higher-order thinking. Students use each other as resources in cooperative groups. The sample used in analysis of predictors of direct supervision and interaction consisted of 42 middle school classrooms in social studies, human biology, and mathematics. The analysis of achievement and interaction is based on 22 social studies classrooms. Few, if any, groups were larger than five students. Observations confirm a positive, rather than negative, relationship between the size of the learning group and the percentage of students talking and learning together in these relatively small groups. It was demonstrated that given true group tasks and problems with ill-structured solutions, there is a strong and significant relationship between interaction and learning. Di:ect supervision is counterproductive when groups are in operation. Three tables present study findings. (Contains 12 references.) (SIM) **************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *********************************************************************** U E. DEPARTMENT 01 EDUCATION Othce el Education& Reeestch end Improvement EOUCJIT1ONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) c-frus documord has been reproduced as reclined horn the person Or Organization Ongmatingit 0 Minor changes have been made to improve mproduction gustily Points of vials or opinions stated in the doco ment do not necessarily represent &haat OEM pomtron or parity "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY ki9eNEL "9. I Orybo TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." TALKING AND WORKING TOGETHER: CONDITIONS FOR LEARNING IN COMPLEX INSTRUCTION Rachel A. Lotan Elizabeth G. Cohen Nicole Holthuis Program for Complex Instruction Stanford University Paper Presented at Annual Meeting of American Educational Research Association New Orleans, LA April, 1994