Technology as small group face-to-face Collaborative Scaffolding

There is a wealth of evidence that collaboration between learners can enhance the outcomes for all concerned. This supports the theorization of learning as a socio-cultural practice, framed by Vygotsky and developed by other researchers such as Rogoff, Lave and Wenger. However, there is also evidence that working collaboratively may not be a spontaneous response to working in a group, and that teaching learners how to collaborate, and in particular how to work together to negotiate meaning, is a necessary part of the process of learning collaboratively which can enhance outcomes further. A question for the computer supported collaborative learning community then arises as to whether learning to collaborate can be scaffolded through the use of digital tools, and what such tools might look like. This paper reports on the design of a digital system that aims to support the practice of face-to-face collaboration on open-ended tasks. Findings from trials of the system in classrooms in the UK and Chile show that the model is welcomed both by teachers and pupils, and met its objectives of ensuring greater interaction between class members who did not normally work together, and involvement of all individuals in discussion based activities.

[1]  Miguel Nussbaum,et al.  Computer supported collaborative learning using wirelessly interconnected handheld computers , 2004, Comput. Educ..

[2]  Stephanie D. Teasley.  The role of talk in children's peer collaborations. , 1995 .

[3]  Kai Pata,et al.  Collaborative scaffolding in synchronous environment: congruity and antagonism of tutor/student facilitation acts , 2005, CSCL.

[4]  Denni Morrison.  The influence of Piaget and Vygotsky , 2002 .

[5]  Deborah Cutchin,et al.  The Innovative School: Organization and Instruction , 2001 .

[6]  A. Garton,et al.  The effect of peer collaboration on children's problem-solving ability. , 2005, The British journal of educational psychology.

[7]  F. Fischer,et al.  Epistemic and social scripts in computer–supported collaborative learning , 2005 .

[8]  Susanne P. Lajoie,et al.  Computers As Cognitive Tools , 2020 .

[9]  Bertram C. Bruce.  Computers and the collaborative experience of learning , 1995 .

[10]  G. Salomon,et al.  When teams do not function the way they ought to , 1989 .

[11]  Matthew Hughes,et al.  On-line interprofessional learning: introducing constructivism through enquiry-based learning and peer review , 2004, Journal of interprofessional care.

[12]  Claude Frasson,et al.  The role of conflicts in the learning process , 2001, SCOU.

[13]  Gerry Stahl,et al.  Group cognition in computer-assisted collaborative learning , 2005, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[14]  M. Goos,et al.  Socially mediated metacognition: creating collaborative zones of proximal development in small group problem solving , 2002 .

[15]  R. Gillies,et al.  Teachers' and students' verbal behaviours during cooperative and small-group learning. , 2006, The British journal of educational psychology.

[16]  Stephanie D. Teasley.  Constructing a Joint Problem Space: The Computer as a Tool for Sharing Knowledge , 1993 .

[17]  Miguel Nussbaum,et al.  A conceptual framework based on Activity Theory for mobile CSCL , 2007, Br. J. Educ. Technol..

[18]  Peter Blatchford,et al.  Changes in grouping practices over primary and secondary school , 2003 .

[19]  Pierre Dillenbourg,et al.  Over-scripting CSCL: The risks of blending collaborative learning with instructional design , 2002 .

[20]  Jean Piaget,et al.  The language and thought of the child, 3rd ed. , 1959 .

[21]  Alice F. Artz,et al.  Development of a Cognitive-Metacognitive Framework for Protocol Analysis of Mathematical Problem Solving in Small Groups , 1992 .

[22]  Kurt W. Fischer,et al.  Development in context : acting and thinking in specific environments , 1993 .

[23]  Erno Lehtinen,et al.  Tutor Scaffolding Styles of Dilemma Solving in Network-Based Role-Play. , 2005 .

[24]  Annemarie Hauf,et al.  Computers in education , 1983 .

[25]  Miguel Nussbaum,et al.  Dynamic Grouping in Collaborative Learning Supported by Wireless Handhelds , 2005, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[26]  M. Cole,et al.  Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. L. S. Vygotsky. , 1978 .

[27]  M. Galton,et al.  Changes in Patterns of Teacher Interaction in Primary Classrooms: 1976‐96 , 1999 .

[28]  B. Rogoff,et al.  Everyday Cognition: Development in Social Context , 1999 .

[29]  Pierre Dillenbourg,et al.  Collaborative Learning: Cognitive and Computational Approaches , 1999 .

[30]  J. Vonèche,et al.  Piaget--Vygotsky : the social genesis of thought , 1996 .

[31]  J. Piaget.  The Language and Thought of the Child , 1927 .

[32]  Usha Vijayraghavan.  When three is not a crowd , 1998 .

[33]  P. Kutnick,et al.  Toward a social pedagogy of classroom group work , 2003 .

[34]  N. Rummel,et al.  Learning to Collaborate in a Computer-mediated Setting: Observing a Model Beats Learning from Being Scripted , 2006, ICLS.

[35]  W. Damon,et al.  Critical distinctions among three approaches to peer education , 1989 .

[36]  N. Mercer,et al.  From social interaction to individual reasoning: an empirical investigation of a possible socio-cultural model of cognitive development , 1999 .

[37]  N. Mercer,et al.  Children's Talk and the Development of Reasoning in the Classroom , 1999 .

[38]  Nira Granott,et al.  Patterns of interaction in the co-construction of knowledge: Separate minds, joint effort, and weird creatures. , 1993 .

[39]  M. Goos,et al.  Do it this way! Metacognitive strategies in collaborative mathematical problem solving , 1996 .

[40]  H. Shachar,et al.  Talking, Relating, and Achieving: Effects of Cooperative Learning and Whole-Class Instruction , 1994 .

[41]  A. C. Kruger.  Peer collaboration: conflict, cooperation, or both? , 1993 .

[42]  Jean Piaget.  Language and Thought of the Child. London (Routledge) 1959. , 1959 .