Noreen M. Webb

Peer interaction and learning in small groups

Abstract This chapter discusses the kinds of peer interaction that influence learning in small groups and describes the characteristics of students, groups and tasks that predict different patterns of peer interaction. Based on previous empirical research, critical features of peer interaction include the level of elaboration of help given and received, and the appropriateness of responses to requests for help. Predictors of peer interaction in small groups include student ability, gender, and personality, and group composition on ability and gender. Hypotheses about important, but neglected, aspects of peer interaction that may predict learning are discussed.

Task-Related Verbal Interaction and Mathematics Learning in Small Groups.

The past fifteen years have shown a resurgence of interest in small-group, peer-directed learning in the classroom. This article reviews and analyzes the research linking task-related verbal interaction to learning in small groups in mathematics classrooms, as well as factors that have been shown to predict peer interaction in mathematics groups, and discusses strategies for shaping group interaction. Critical features of group interaction include the level of elaboration of help given and received and the responsiveness of help to the needs of students. Important predictors of group interaction included student ability, gender and personality, and group composition on ability and gender. Possible strategies for promoting effective small-group interaction include using certain group compositions, altering the reward structure, providing training in desirable verbal behavior, and structuring the group activity to require students to give explanations to each other.

Student Interaction and Learning in Small Groups

While research on learning in cooperative small groups has greatly increased during the past several years, few studies have focused on the interaction processes occurring within groups. This review focuses on the role of the student’s experience in small group interaction in learning. Research bearing on three aspects of small group learning is examined: (1) the relationship between interaction and achievement, (2) cognitive process and social-emotional mechanisms bridging interaction and achievement, and (3) characteristics of the individual, group, and reward structure that predict interaction in small groups. Methodological and substantive issues are discussed to evaluate and integrate research findings, and as guidelines for further research. The conclusion is that an individual’s role in group interaction is an important influence on learning, and that interaction can best be predicted from multiple characteristics of the individual, group, and setting

Promoting Helping Behavior in Cooperative Small Groups in Middle School Mathematics

This study compared the effects on achievement and verbal interaction of two instructional programs designed to teach students how to work effectively in small groups: cooperative learning with instruction and practice in basic communication skills and academic helping skills (experimental condition) and cooperative learning with instruction and practice in basic communications skills only (comparison condition). Six 7th-grade general mathematics classes (n = 166) were randomly assigned to instructional condition. After preparation for group work, students worked in peer-directed small groups on a 4-week unit on operations with fractions. Results showed that Latino and African-American students gave and received more elaborated help, and showed higher achievement, in the experimental condition than in the comparison condition. Differences between instructional conditions were greater for one teacher than for the other. Reasons for these differences are discussed. No significant differences between conditions, in verbal interaction or achievement, appeared for white students.

Equity Issues in Collaborative Group Assessment: Group Composition and Performance

This study investigated the effects of group ability composition on group processes and outcomes in science performance assessments. Students in 21 eighth-grade science classes worked on science assessments first individually, then in groups, and finally individually again. Group composition had a major impact on group discussion quality and on student achievement. Groups with above-average students produced more accurate and high-quality answers and explanations about how to solve the test problems than groups without above-average students. As a result, below-average students who worked with above-average students showed higher achievement than did below-average students who worked without above-average students. High-ability students generally performed better when they worked in homogeneous groups than when they worked in heterogeneous groups. The fact that heterogeneous groups provide a greater benefit for below-average students than they impose a detriment on high-ability students is discussed.

Promoting effective helping behavior in peer-directed groups

Abstract Collaborative peer learning environments have received increasing attention in classrooms due to the potential for improving learning and achievement. Yet previous research shows that not all students benefit from the collaborative experience. This paper explores the nature of helping behavior within peer-directed small groups that may be most effective for learning, especially for students who have difficulty with the material. Drawing on examples from recent research on student learning in collaborative mathematics classrooms in a US middle school, we identify student behaviors that are necessary for effective help seeking and help giving, as well as responsibilities of teachers in establishing classroom conditions that bring about effective helping behavior. The findings show that effective help seekers ask precise questions, persist in seeking help, and apply the explanations received; effective help givers provide detailed explanations of the material as well as opportunities for help recipients to apply the help received, and monitor student understanding. These critical helping behaviors reflect the constructivist views embodied in Piagetian and Vygotskian perspectives on learning in social contexts.

Group Collaboration in Assessment: Multiple Objectives, Processes, and Outcomes.

Large-scale assessment programs are increasingly requiring students to work in collaborative small groups instead of, or in addition to, requiring them to work individually. This article considers theoretical and practical issues that need to be taken into account in the design, use, and interpretation of the results of such assessments. Theoretical issues include the compatibility of group work with different purposes of assessment and the way emerging group processes may work toward or against different purposes of assessment. Practical issues include designing and administering assessments to produce scores that are consistent with the goals of the assessment, composing groups so that the results are fair, and preparing students for collaborative group assessments.

Sex Differences in Interaction and Achievement in Cooperative Small Groups

This study investigated sex differences in interaction patterns and achievement in small groups. Seventy-seven students in two junior high school mathematics classes worked for 2 weeks in majority-female, majority-male, or groups with equal numbers of males and females. Same-sex and cross-sex interactions were analyzed for six interaction variables: giving, asking for, and receiving explanations; and giving, asking for, and receiving procedural information. Achievement and interaction results related to the ratio of females to males in a group. Females and males showed equal achievement and similar interaction patterns in groups with equal numbers of females and males. In majority-female groups, females directed most of their interaction to males and showed lower achievement than males. In majority-male groups, males tended to ignore females and showed somewhat higher achievement than did females. Explanations for these results and consequences for group composition in the classroom are discussed. The growing literature on cooperative learning in the classroom presents a consistent feature across the designs of studies: Nearly all studies use mixed-sex groups. Yet, little is known about the processes operating in mixed-sex groups in the classroom nor how these processes relate to achievement. Research on group dynamics in noneducational settings has consistently shown that males dominate the activity in mixed-sex groups (e.g., Borgatta & Stimson, 1963; Heilbrun, 1968; Strodtbeck, James & Hawkins, 1957; Strodtbeck & Mann, 1956). In a review of the recent literature on mixed-sex groups, Lockheed (in press) performed a meta-analysis of studies using collaborative tasks. Of 64 datasets that Lockheed examined, 45 showed greater male

Problem-Solving Strategies and Group Processes in Small Groups Learning Computer Programming

This study investigated the planning and debugging strategies and group processes that predicted learning of computer programming in small groups. Thirty students aged 11 to 14 learned Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instructional Code (BASIC) in 2-person groups. Students showed little advance planning; their style of planning and debugging was opportunistic. Specific planning and debugging variables that predicted learning included high-level planning of chunks of the program, and low-level planning and debugging of single statements. Group interaction variables related to learning included giving and receiving explanations, receiving responses to questions, and verbalizing input aloud while typing at the keyboard. Student demographic characteristics, aptitudes, and cognitive style measures did not predict planning, debugging, or verbal interaction.

Teacher Questioning to Elicit Students’ Mathematical Thinking in Elementary School Classrooms:

Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) researchers have found that while teachers readily ask initial questions to elicit students’ mathematical thinking, they struggle with how to follow up on student ideas. This study examines the classrooms of three teachers who had engaged in algebraic reasoning CGI professional development. We detail teachers’ questions and how they relate to students’ making explicit their complete and correct explanations. We found that after the initial “How did you get that?” question, a great deal of variability existed among teachers’ questions and students’ responses.