Learning, peer collaboration and group work in the classroom

Behaviourist Approaches

Rewards and punishments

Learning through observation

Equilibration

How new information is balanced with existing knowledge

• Make sense of it using existing understanding

• Accommodate understanding by changing how you think

Disequilibrium

Realisation that you’re wrong, opportunity for learning

• Through self-guided exploration

• Through interactions with others, socio-cognitive conflict

Need for discovery methods/experiential learning

Bruner, 1961

• Children have full access to their environment

• Teacher supports what the child chooses

• Children develop problem-solving skills

Argument against pure discovery

Mayer, 2004

• May fail to promote the first cognitive process: selecting relevant information

Underpinnings of cognitive development

Mercer & Howe, 2012

• Intermental (social activity)

• Intramental (individual thinking)

Zone of proximal development

Vygotsky

• Promote the child to think for themselves by providing scaffolding

Children as teachers and learners

Tomasello, 2009; 2014

• Inclination to teach others

• Inclination to attend and learn from others

Behaviourist view of group learning

Correct answer in the group

Improvement as a matter of imitation

Constructivist view of group learning

Benefits of peer interaction arise from cognitive conflict and equilibration processes

Guided participation

King et al, 1998

• Success based on ability to communicate over expertise

Intersubjectivity

Kyriacou & Issitt, 2008

• Dialogic talk, use of questions

• Collaboration

• Task design and/or group composition

Levels of processing

Craik & Lockhart, 1972

• Better retrieval following deeper processing

• Self-reference effect

Domain-specific knowledge

Chi, 1978

• Child experts better than adult novices on chess task, but not on working memory task

• Relevance of previous knowledge

Control of cognition

Blair & River, 2014

• Tools of the mind

• Tailor learning to children’s interests; build on what they know

Development of strategies

Sieglar, 2005

• Variability predictive of learning

• Changes both progressive and regressive

Metacognition

Lange & Pierce, 1992

• Thinking about thinking

• Strategies for remembering

• Children's awareness increases with age

• Young children can use memory strategies, and recall better when they do

Constructivist Approaches

How humans create systems to understand experiences

• 4 stages of development (Piaget)

• Equilibration and disequilibrium

• Child as active agent

Socio-Cultural Approaches

Influence of culture and groups on individuals

• Relationship between intermental and intramental

• Zone of proximal development (Vygotsky)

Social Mechanisms for Learning

Individuals or groups learn from observation and interactions

• Children as teachers and learners (Tomasello, 2009; 2014)

• Ambiguities about how group learning works

Keys to collaboration

Supports social mechanisms for learning

• Guided participation (King et al, 1998)

• Quality of talk (Mercer & Howe, 2012)

• Task design and/or group composition

Information-Processing Approaches

Mind as computer metaphor

• Levels of processing (Craik & Lockhart, 1972)

• Domain-specific knowledge (Chi, 1978)

• Control of cognition (Blair & River, 2014)