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Collaborative writing (CW) and task repetition have been claimed to aid language acquisition. Students produce better texts when writing with a peer and their drafts improve if they write the same composition twice (same task repetition, STR). However, little is known about young learners, about the effects of combining both constructs and, finally, about a more common type of repetition in language lessons: repeating the same procedure with different content (procedural task repetition, PTR). This study analyses the effects of CW (vs. individual writing) and of PTR (vs. STR). To do so, the writings of 59 Spanish young learners (aged 11) of English divided into four groups were analysed. Two of these groups (N = 9, N = 10) wrote a composition individually while two (N = 20, N = 20) wrote a composition in pairs. A week later, one individual (N = 9) and one collaborative group (N = 20) wrote the same composition again (STR) while the other individual (N = 10) and collaborative (N = 20) groups wrote a new composition following the same procedure (PTR). Unlike findings from adult learners, our students’ drafts show no differences that could be attributed to the collaboration. However, some improvements upon repetition were hinted at, with students in the STR group obtaining greater holistic rates.

This paper explores the potential of collaborative group facilitation between therapists and peer workers in mental health. A case study of co-practice between a music therapist and a peer worker is used to illustrate how lived experience expertise can enrich and complement therapeutic groups. The paper aims to begin a discussion around collaborative group facilitation within mental health practice and to advocate for continued development of collaborative practice between peer workers and therapists. Experiences of collaboration are explored through the case study provided using a synthesis of the authors' reflections and dialogue. The importance of role negotiation, role definition, and open communication around changing roles and boundaries are discussed as key considerations for beginning collaborations, as well as the establishment and maintenance of a foundation of trust and support within the working relationship.

É apresentada aqui uma investigação sobre como acontece o desenvolvimento profissional de um grupo de professoras de escolas públicas dos anos iniciais da região de Sorocaba/SP que participaram de um grupo colaborativo ao longo de 20 encontros. O grupo tinha como objetivo implementar a alfabetização científica (AC) em suas aulas. Para identificar o desenvolvimento profissional das professoras foram utilizados instrumentos baseados nos estudos de Barolli et al. Os resultados apontaram que o grupo teve importantes indícios de desenvolvimento profissional docente durante os encontros e na sua organização de carreira.

From a cognitive load perspective, successful collaborative learning occurs if groups achieve their goals, and if each member processes information in a way that contributes to individual learning. This research looked at group work among postgraduate STEM students in South Korea (N = 55) to see if successful collaborative learning and individual contribution were associated with greater individual course success. Results showed that students who participated in successful group work showed higher levels of germane cognitive load, which contributes to learning, and also earned higher scores on the final research paper for the course. Implications of this study highlight the need for synchronous collaborative writing to be used as a way of sharing ideas and knowledge to produce higher levels of individual understanding and quality writing.

This paper focuses on comparing collaborative group sizes (small versus large) in terms of developing preservice teachers’ skills in designing webpages using HTML in a project-based learning environment. It examines the effect that group size has on academic achievement and product quality in project-based learning environments. The experiment involved 74 undergraduate students enrolled in the sixth level of the Computer Teacher Program, Faculty of Education, King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia, during the second term of the school year 2018-2019. Study results indicate that there are significant differences between large and small size groups as they relate to students’ academic achievement and product quality, showing a preference for a large group, which disagrees with most of the existing literature. In this study, the researchers explain this disagreement and recommend new directions in researching group sizes in project-based learning environments in the future.

PurposeHigher education institutions (HEIs) frequently overlook the importance of encouraging creative thinking in students. A review of the prevailing practices in a fully online tertiary distance education (DE) institution revealed a lack of learning activities that foster creativity. The study aims to find out whether the creative collaborative group project is a feasible, effective and acceptable learning activity for fostering creativity in students of a fully online graduate-level DE course.Design/methodology/approachSeven groups of five to six graduate students each had five weeks to conceptualize, prepare and deliver a creative collaborative group project on lifelong learning using key concepts learned from the course.FindingsAll groups submitted well-crafted creative projects within the given time frame. Reflections on their experience positively correlated with known outcomes associated with creative skills. Students valued the experience and had a better understanding of the concepts. These support the feasibility, effectiveness and acceptability of the project for fostering creativity in a fully online DE institution.Research limitations/implicationsThe feasibility, effectiveness and acceptability may vary in different contexts; future iterations in the same and/or other courses are recommended.Practical implicationsThe creative collaborative group project is a feasible, effective and acceptable strategy for fostering creativity in online distance education.Social implicationsCreativity can be enhanced through appropriate online collaborative learning activities.Originality/valueThe study adds to the body of literature on the use of creative collaborative group projects to foster creativity in HEIs.

The aim of this study is to explore learners’ intention to return to the electronic environment through the use of wikipages. The survey is based on students’ participation in a collaborative group project over a one semester course on business information systems. A research model based on the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) has been proposed to investigate what factors will influence learners’ continuance participation in the electronic learning environment. 75% of students returned the questionnaire and the data analysis results based on the extended TAM Shows that the learners’ intention to return to the electronic learning environment was highly associated with their attitude towards the electronic learning tool and the affection associated with the tool.

Group awareness tools (GATs) are used to enhance awareness among students in online collaborative settings. GATs display awareness information of group processes, so students have a shared understanding of the collaboration. They also encourage students to share their opinions regarding their group processes, which externalizes unspoken awareness information and facilitates group regulation activities. The current study observed how students generated awareness information when being guided by a GAT. The primary aim of the study was to investigate the contents of student-generated awareness information collected from the evaluations of group processes and reflections about the collaboration process. A case study, drawing upon both qualitative and quantitative data, was conducted in the study. The results suggested the validity of student-generated awareness information, and its application in evaluating collaborative group processes. Students’ reflections also identified successful as well as disadvantageous aspects of group processes in three themes: communication, efficient work processes, and commitment. Overall, the findings suggested that student-generated awareness information can reveal the real status of collaborative group process. Successful and disadvantageous aspects of group processes were discussed from the students’ perspectives.

Group work (GW) in undergraduate education facilitates the development of communication and collaborative skills. However, dysfunctional and inequitable group dynamics can have adverse effects, leading to increased anxiety. This research sought to determine the effectiveness of a Group Work Contract to facilitate the GW process in the face-to-face (n=168) and online (n=105) formats of a third year nutritional science course. Changes in students’ attitudes and approaches to GW were assessed before (semester week 4) and after (semester week 12) completion of the contract and assignment via online surveys. The results in both course formats were similar, wherein the Group Work Contract reduced student anxiety and improved group dynamics and communication between group members, resulting in an improved learning experience overall . Further, the preferred methods of GW online communication utilized social networking platforms. This data demonstrates the benefits of formally structuring the GW process to optimize the student learning experience.

Recent research has underlined the benefits of peer assessment (PA) as it helps learners write high-quality essays and increases their confidence as writers. In terms of this intervention study, 200 Greek Cypriot EFL learners’ essays (pre- and post-tests) were evaluated taking into consideration four aspects of writing quality after using either PA and teacher assessment (TA) (experimental groups, n = 100 students) or only TA (control groups, n = 100 students) in their writing classes for one year. This is one of the few studies, to the knowledge of the present researcher, which have performed text analysis of so many aspects of writing quality using such a—relatively—large sample (400 essays) in such a challenging setting (secondary education). Learners’ essays were evaluated in terms of accuracy, fluency, grammatical complexity, and lexical complexity using Atlas.ti. Findings indicated that learners who received PA and TA improved their essays more in terms of lexical complexity, accuracy, and some features of grammatical complexity and fluency than those who received only TA. The current study highlights the desirability of collaborative group work, in the form of PA activities, in the creation of opportunities conducive to promoting writing quality.

Resumen El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar los resultados de una experiencia desarrollada en la Universidad Nacional Experimental del Táchira (UNET), Venezuela, mediante la estrategia de Grupos Interactivos (GI). Participaron diez estudiantes de Ingeniería Ambiental, Civil, Mecánica e Industrial, que realizaban sus Proyectos Especiales de Grado (PEG) y respondieron un guion de preguntas para valorar su experiencia como integrantes del GI. El análisis de la información fue de tipo cualitativo e interpretativo, es decir, se examinaron, compararon e interpretaron cada una de las respuestas de los y las informantes en proceso cíclico y recursivo para agrupar y configurar tres categorías: valoración de la participación y aprendizaje en el grupo interactivo, aprendizajes sobre sostenibilidad como profesional de la ingeniería, y relación entre sostenibilidad y trabajo colaborativo. Con base en los resultados, puede afirmarse que los GI les permitieron aprender juntos y comprender su compromiso como personas ingenieras en la protección de los recursos naturales. Por tanto, se considera necesario que el profesorado de las carreras de ingeniería incorpore en sus prácticas los principios de la sostenibilidad, orientados a formar profesionales conscientes de su responsabilidad en el respeto y preservación del planeta y, en este sentido, los GI constituyen una posibilidad para el trabajo en equipo y el aprendizaje compartido de un tema actual y pertinente como la sostenibilidad. Abstract The National Experimental University of Táchira (UNET) in Venezuela, conducted an Interactive Group (IG) analysis among ten students majoring in Environmental, Civil, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering participated while they were completing their graduation projects (Special Degree Projects (PEG)). For purposes of the analysis, the students were asked to respond to various scripted questions to assess their experience as a member of the IG. The information analysis was qualitative and interpretive, that is, each informant response was examined, compared and interpreted in a cyclical and recursive process and were grouped together according to three categories: Participation and Learning Assessment from participating in the Interactive Group , Learning about Sustainability as an Engineering Major and the Relationship between Sustainability and Collaborative Group Work. Based on the results, it can be affirmed that the IG analysis fostered shared learning and understand of the group´s commitment as engineers to protection our natural resources. College Engineering Instructors must aim at incorporating the principles of sustainability in their lessons in order so that the next generation of engineers will be imbued with a sense of awareness and respect for conservation of the planet. As a result, SIG proved to be an opportunity to leverage teamwork and shared learning regarding this current and relevant topic.

Collaborative group testing can facilitate meaningful discussion, cooperation, and improved understanding of course material. While this format is used in face-to-face classroom settings, it is less clear if it can be adapted for online settings. With the rapid shift to online instruction because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we explored whether collaborative group testing could be implemented online through video conferencing. Our hypothesis was that online collaborative group testing would be feasible and effective for facilitating student learning. Twelve students enrolled in two sections of an introductory kinesiology course (Spring, n=9;Summer, n=3), took exams individually and then immediately again in small groups (3-4 students). The Spring section completed exam 1 in-class and exam 3 online (exam 2 was modified as a take-home because of the onset of COVID-19 pandemic). The Summer section completed all exams online. For both sections, the group online exam was delivered using Zoom ?breakout rooms?. Individual and group scores for exam 3 were evaluated along with student's perceptions relating to the collaborative group testing format. As expected, group exam scores were higher than individual scores (98±1% vs. 79±18%;P

Previous research has highlighted the importance of emotions of learners in online learning settings. However, much of this research has tended to focus on individual learning situations rather than social learning activities. The exploration of the emotional experiences of distance learners has also received little attention when compared to other student groups (e.g. full-time or blended learning students). As many distance learners are in full- or part-time employment or have other commitments, the emotions experienced and the reasons for these emotions might be greatly different to other student populations. This study investigated these issues by exploring the emotional experiences of distance learners when undertaking an assessed, online, collaborative group project. Self-report data about the emotions experienced and their causes were gathered using a structured diary at six times points during the group activity. Findings revealed that learners experienced a ranged of pleasant and unpleasant emotions before, during and after the collaborative activity. Feelings of satisfaction and relief were the most reported pleasant emotions and feelings of anxiety and frustration were the most frequently reported unpleasant emotions. To conclude this paper, implications for educators are briefly discussed and reflections on using an online diary to explore student emotions are provided.

Experimental courses for undergraduate students majoring in biochemistry or related subjects often do not provide students with systematic and research-based experiences. To help students develop a...

The use of collaboration while in dental school can help prepare dental students for the team-oriented nature of the workforce. One way to do this is via collaborative group testing (CGT), a method of assessment allowing students to learn from one another. The aim of this study was to examine the CGT method in a predoctoral dental education setting to determine if student examination performance improved with the addition of collaboration and if collaborative testing was beneficial to students' learning process. In 2016, all first-year dental students (n=76) at one U.S. dental school were assessed in an introductory comprehensive care course using a two-stage CGT in which students were assessed individually, prior to taking the same test in collaboration with an assigned partner. Three quizzes and a final examination were given in which student participants served as both control (individual assessments) and treatment (collaborative assessment). At the conclusion of the course, a questionnaire was administered to ascertain student perspectives. All assessments yielded favorable results with an overall score improvement from a mean of 81.1% on individual assessments to 91% on collaborative assessments (p=0.001), indicating that collaboration improved assessment outcomes. Additionally, retention of material was suggested with individual scores on the cumulative final surpassing average individual scores of the preceding quizzes (p

INTRODUCTION: Different approaches have been endeavoured by medical educationists to produce high[1]standard graduates from medical school, including collaborative group discussions and reflective practice (RP) assignments. The current study aimed to evaluate the outcome of teacher-led whole batch discussion following RP tasks given to the students. The overall teaching approach is referred to as “Reflection-based whole-batch discussion (RWD)”. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred twenty-two medical students who attended the haematology course at the University Sultan Zainal Abidin were recruited into this study over 2 academic years. The first batch of students (n=61) was unexposed to the RWD intervention (RWD-unexposed) while the second batch from the following academic year (n=61) was exposed (RWD-exposed) to the intervention. Students adhered to the guidelines given by the instructor pertaining to the reflective practice (RP) before the sessions. A weekly RWD session was conducted where the instructor-led a dually interactive forum to discuss students’ mistakes and misunderstandings as reflected within their write-ups. Exam results from both RWD-exposed and the RWD[1]unexposed students were compared using the student t-test. RESULTS: The mean scores of students’ results were significantly higher among RWD-exposed students compared to RWD-unexposed students in their essay questions and objective structured practical exam questions (p

BACKGROUND There is a dearth of literature related to well-being of college students with IDD. The purpose of this study was to use design thinking to identify health-related innovations for college students with IDD. METHOD Two design thinking events were conducted with participants (n = 16). Subsequent web-based surveys with a separate group of students with IDD (n = 18) assessed feasibility of each innovation. Collaborative group discussions were used to assess each innovation, and quantitate data were used to assess innovation feasibility. RESULTS A total of 16 innovations were constructed: 4 sexual health, dating and relationships, 2 drugs and/or alcohol, 2 exercise and physical activity, 2 socializing, leisure and recreation, 2 food and nutrition and 4 mental health. CONCLUSION Design thinking methods are a suitable strategy to use with individuals with IDD and led to the development of innovations with high relevancy and feasibility for college students with IDD.

Literacy is a complex term that involves an array of intertwined processes, including motivation. Students who lack this internal willingness often fail to engage with books and other literacy-related content, which in turn negatively affects their learning outcomes. Though several arts-based strategies have been shown to improve students’ involvement in reading, these approaches can be difficult and time consuming to implement. Murder on Mansion Hill is a digital tabletop game designed to weave together literacy-improving creative techniques such as storytelling, collage, and co-design in a cohesive manner. By blending these strategies with the motivational benefits of gameplay, Mansion Hill encourages players to take a highly active role in developing and sharing imaginative narratives, helping them to view stories as an enjoyable and rewarding outlet they can share with friends. After a series of improvements made through player feedback, players felt the game helped them overcome fear of judgment, engage with narrative in new multimodal ways, and bond with peers.

Previous research found that collaboration reduces the tendency to yield to misleading questions. Here, the aim was to determine whether this occurs because collaboration induces a conservative change in response criterion or because it promotes more efficient error-checking strategies. To this purpose, we compared the performance of collaborative and nominal triads in the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale. Critically, we recorded conversations during retrieval, allowing us to compute inclusive scores and analyze retrieval strategies. Confirming previous evidence, results showed that collaborative groups yielded less to leading questions; however, the differences between collaborative and nominal groups in yield 1 were canceled when we took into account questions to which at least one participant in the collaborative group gave in but was corrected by collaborators during the discussion (the so-called inclusive scores). This was not the case for yield 2 and total suggestibility scores. Also, the analysis of retrieval strategies indicated that collaborative groups who used process-focused strategies (such as correction and cross-cueing) to a greater extent were less likely to change their responses after receiving the negative feedback and were less suggestible. We conclude that, while the use of error-checking and process-focused strategies played a role in reducing suggestibility in collaborative groups, the administration of negative feedback induced members of collaborative groups to adopt a more conservative response criterion. These results contribute to the understanding of the conditions that maximize the positive effects of collaborative retrieval. They have implications for policymakers and police practitioners, specifying when and how collaboration might be allowed.

Este artigo apresenta conhecimentos docentes específicos sobre os estudantes e as estratégias pedagógicas identificados nas narrativas de professores que participaram do Grupo Colaborativo de Formação de Professores em Educação Estatística – MoSaiCo Edu. Para isso, sete encontros do Grupo foram gravados e transcritos, sendo analisados através da técnica do Discurso do Sujeito Coletivo, o que levou à construção de sete discursos. Um deles, denominado “incompreensões dos discentes e estratégias para o ensino dos conceitos estatísticos” é destaque deste artigo. Como resultados da análise deste, destacam-se os conhecimentos dos professores sobre as especificidades de aprendizagem, protagonismo, interesses e incompreensões dos estudantes, a apreciação do contexto e de experiências cotidianas, assim como a utilização de testes padronizados, recursos tecnológicos e materiais pedagógicos. A caracterização dos conhecimentos docentes para ensinar Estatística, objeto de estudo em processo de desenvolvimento científico, é relevante, pois pode orientar a formação inicial e continuada, e a prática em sala de aula.

There are many uses for virtual reality (VR) in education, and there is a consensus about its contribution in the teaching and learning processes. However, the majority of the studies assess the effectiveness of an individual learning in VR, and there is a need to explore more on the effects of VR using different levels of immersion and collaboration. This paper presents an experiment to investigate knowledge transfer in a group-based learning game. We introduce a VR serious game to support teaching and learning processes in neuroanatomy health education. A between-subjects experiment was conducted with 23 students to jointly assess learning, knowledge retention, and sense of presence. As a control condition, grouped students assembled a physical model of the human brain, while in the experimental condition, a virtual brain was assembled. In each group, one participant assembled the brain, while the others observed and verbally collaborated in a group-based learning strategy. Results shown high mean scores in the virtual condition. When comparing the knowledge test performance before and immediately after the experiment, we found significant difference only for the virtual condition. The same can be observed for retention. Because of the promising results achieved and motivated by the need of more engaging new tools for remote learning – fully used in quarantine conditions, such as the current one because of the Covid-19 pandemic – we conducted a pilot user study to evaluate the learning effect of a remote version of our collaborative VR game.

To assess the impact of collaboration on intercultural communication apprehension (ICA), this mixed-methods study compared ICA levels of 41 domestic and international undergraduates who participated in collaborative activities with 79 students in a control group. International student participants came from a variety of countries, while the majority of domestic students were White. A Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine if there were differences in Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension scores across time between the experimental and control groups. The co-instructors of the collaborative group were also interviewed. Quantitative results indicate no significant differences in ICA levels due to the collaboration. Interview data reveal the potential for collaboration to reduce ICA and for in-group bias and lack of motivation to act as barriers in reducing ICA.

To perform prospective memory (PM) tasks in day-to-day life, we often enlist the help of others. Yet the effects of collaboration on PM are largely unknown. Adopting the methodology of the "collaborative recall paradigm", we tested whether stranger dyads (Experiment 1) and intimate couples (Experiment 2) would perform better on a "Virtual Week" task when working together or each working separately. In Experiment 1, we found evidence of collaborative inhibition: collaborating strangers did not perform to their pooled individual potential, although the effect was modulated by PM task difficulty. We also found that the overall collaborative inhibition effect was attributable to both the retrospective and prospective components of PM. In Experiment 2 however, there was no collaborative inhibition: there was no significant difference in performance between couples working together or separately. Our findings suggest potential costs of collaboration to PM. Intimate relationships may reduce the usual costs of collaboration, with implications for intervention training programmes and for populations who most need PM support.

This study uses homogeneity in personal learning styles and heterogeneity in subject knowledge for collaborative learning group decomposition indicating that groups are “mixed” in nature. Homogeneity within groups was formed using K-means clustering and greedy search, whereas heterogeneity imbibed using agenda-driven search. For checking learning effectiveness, a simple schema of collaborative learning was proposed and prototype learning system developed using Android Emulator. Multiple regression analysis was applied on their learning results to derive regression coefficients for determining learning efficiency. The derived set of regression coefficients suggests more the time taken to form groups, better the student learning quality.

STEM undergraduate classrooms are increasingly adopting instructional methods to enhance student engagement and improve learning outcomes. For example, in exploratory learning, students explore novel problems before they are taught the underlying concepts and procedures. The current studies examined the benefits of exploratory learning in undergraduate physics instruction. In Studies 1 and 2, students worked collaboratively in groups to complete a learning activity before lecture (explore-first condition) or after (instruct-first condition). The two studies were conducted in different semesters, with different physics courses and instructors of record. Students’ conceptual understanding and procedural knowledge (problem-solving accuracy) were assessed using an instructor-created quiz. Performance on the learning activity indicated that students in the explore-first condition struggled as much as (Study 2) or more than (Study 1) students in the instruct-first condition. However, on the quiz, students in the explore-first condition exhibited better conceptual understanding and equal procedural knowledge, compared to students in the instruct-first condition. In addition, self-reported interest and enjoyment were either equal (Study 1) or greater (Study 2) in the explore-first condition. Study 3 tested the effects of exploring alone versus in a collaborative group. Learning outcomes were equal across conditions, suggesting that there is no added learning benefit of exploring collaboratively compared to individually. However, interest and enjoyment were higher when students explored collaboratively, which may have long-term educational benefits. Exploratory learning, with or without collaboration, offers a useful method to improve student engagement and performance in essential undergraduate STEM courses.

This book reports a mixed method, quasi-experimental study of the effectiveness of a groupwork-based intervention in fostering critical thinking among students in the context of the general studies...

A quasi-experimental research study is reported in this paper. Its aim was to evaluate the effects of different types of pedagogy on the cultivation of students’ critical thinking dispositions. One hundred and forty Secondary 4 students (i.e. tenth-grade students at 15–17 years of age) from two Hong Kong schools joined a teaching intervention in which they learnt strategies of argumentation through an established critical thinking framework (i.e. Kuhn’s model [ The Skills of Argument , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991]). Analysis revealed collaborative group work to exert positive impacts on students’ development of critical thinking when used in conjunction with explicit instruction in reasoning and evidence-based justifications during the intervention. The research results also showed the students who received teacher guidance to have engaged more interactively in joint learning tasks, thereby illustrating the important role of the teacher in facilitating group discussions.

The rapid development of social media tools has increased interest in their pedagogical value. It has been suggested that social media tools such as wikis can promote online collaborative and interactive learning. This study investigated the value of wikis in supporting collaborative group writing quality among secondary school students in Hong Kong. Students from a local secondary school engaged in group writing projects using Pbworks, a popular wiki tool. Data were gathered from (1) the revision tracking history, (2) a questionnaire on the perceived pedagogical value of the wiki, and (3) group interviews with students. Findings showed that students who made more collaborative revisions on the wiki produced higher-quality writing output. In general, students reported a moderately positive attitude towards the pedagogical value of the wiki. The findings suggest that wikis promote collaborative writing, but teachers need to adopt pedagogical strategies that would equip students to use wikis. Wikis support collaborative group writing of secondary school students.Revision tracking history is a novel and effective method of quantifying levels of cooperative/collaborative group writing.The number of collaborative revisions is positively associated with quality of group writing output.

Professional development for in-service teachers is necessary to meet the changing needs of students and society. This teacher collaboration study examined the experiences of mid-career elementary teachers in Korea in their music professional development. Research questions included: (1) What were the contents of discussion? (2) What was the level of participation among elementary teachers in a collaborative group? (3) How did the focus of the group change over time? The data collection included nonparticipant observation, participants’ reflective journals, researchers’ logs, and artifact collection. Findings showed that participants mainly discussed teaching strategies about music classes and reflected new knowledge that were closely related to confidence in teaching. In addition, teachers in this collaborative group played different roles throughout the group meetings depending on their expertise and interests, but there was also a need for a facilitator. Finally, teachers in the group gradually identified the importance of teacher collaboration for their professional development and attempted to be peer mentors for others outside the collaborative group.

Two-stage collaborative exams have previously been shown to improve students’ understanding and long-term retention of material, while helping to develop collaborative skills. Very little work has been done, however, on the impact of this practice on international students, who may be faced with particular challenges or contexts.. Building on previous work, the perception of first-year international students in an engineering chemistry course offered as part of the Vantage College Applied Science program at UBC regarding the practice of two-stage exams was assessed before and after participating in one for the first time. Although the experience was overall very positive, and the anticipated difficulties of the midterm seemed to be overestimated, several key challenges must be addressed before deciding whether to continue with this practice as part of this program, namely communication barriers preventing the effective participation of all group members, and a structural competitiveness that may discourage collaboration, both of which are inherent to the Vantage APSC program, as well as frustration associated with mixed technical proficiencies of group members, which is a more typical concern associated with this type of assessment.

Group cohesion force is the attraction of the group to its members and the attraction among members of the collaborative group. It is very important for collaborative knowledge building activities. This paper analyzes the development of the group cohesive force in the collaborative knowledge building process with social measurement method. The results show that with the continuous implementing of collaborative knowledge building activities in blended learning environments, the post-test group cohesion force of all groups involved in collaborative knowledge building activities was significantly higher than the pre-test.

Passive behavior in collaborative group settings is often associated with negative or no contributions to the group (social loafing). This paper examines low and high participation levels of students in a virtual collaborative group setting within a global, STEM-focused digital makerspace community. The results of using epistemic network analysis show that both high and low participation levels contributed to the overall balance of the group discourse, overcoming social loafing behavior. High participation level students provided social aspects that contributed to the development of a safe social space for sharing, while low level participation provided content focused dialogue for the group.

Collaborative group work has the potential for providing rich opportunities for children to learn through talk with peers; however, in practice, little effective engagement in learning is observed within authentic learning contexts. Exploratory talk is associated with high levels of cognitive challenge within collaborative group work. Detailed observations of collaborative interactions which took place during activities in authentic learning contexts in Reception and Year 3 classes were analysed to identify exploratory talk episodes and to gain insights into the factors contributing to their development. This study makes a theoretical contribution to understanding the nature of exploratory talk in the early years and provides insights into the form that scaffolding of exploratory talk can take in authentic learning contexts.

This article seeks to systematize some reflections resulting from a doctoral research that aimed to understand the process of professional development from the perspective of statistical literacy in collaborative contexts, showing evidences of professional development of members from a group of teachers and future teachers of Early Childhood Education and initial years of Elementary School. Based on a qualitative approach, it is a case study of the Group "Estatisticando". Although the writing and sharing of experiences by the participants were not requirements, this process happened and became powerful extending beyond the group meetings, resulting in the publication of narrative texts, an article and some participations in events. Therefore, the professional development of one of the group members will be detailed, from her narratives analysis. The collaborative context created and the study group journey also showed that teachers and future teachers can investigate their own practice so that they can develop themselves professionally. Keywords : Statistics – study and teaching. Teacher professional development. Collaborative group. Literacy. Normal 0 21 false false false PT-BR X-NONE X-NONE

Instructional influences on productive use of academic vocabulary were investigated among 460 mostly African American and Latina/o fifth graders from 36 classrooms in eight public schools serving low-income families. Students received a 6-week unit on wolf management involving collaborative group work (CG) or direct instruction (DI). The big question that students tried to answer during the unit was whether a community should be permitted to destroy a pack of wolves. In an individual oral interview about an analogue to the wolf question, whether whaling should be allowed, both CG and DI students used more general and domain-specific academic vocabulary from the Wolf Unit than uninstructed control students. CG students used more general academic vocabulary in the whale interview than DI students, and this was mediated by the CG students' greater use of general academic vocabulary in classroom dialogue during the Wolf Unit. These results suggest that CG is an effective instructional approach to promote acqu...

The objective of this study was to determine whether the incorporation of group work in a teaching intervention can effectively foster students' critical thinking skills. Building upon Kuhn's critical thinking model, the research involved comparison of pretest and post-test results for 140 secondary four (10th grade) students in Hong Kong on two measures of critical thinking ability and investigation of their engagement in argumentative dialogues. The findings illustrate the efficacy of group work, relative to whole-class instruction, in helping students develop critical thinking. In addition, the findings highlight the efficacious role of the teacher in breaking the deadlocks that may arise during small-group debates. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Working in a group requires coordination. The current paper examines coordination in terms of member-level behavioral choices. Extending expectancy theory to a collaborative group setting, we interpret past findings on expertise and hypothesize that component features (specifically their difficulty and worth relative to each other) impact member behavior and hence coordination both directly and by moderating the role of expertise. Findings were largely as predicted, suggesting that an expectancy theory perspective may be a useful tool for the study and understanding of coordination. An exploratory examination of recordings of group interaction suggested that although most of our groups discussed coordination strategies, the strategies discussed did not generally map to the behavioral choices observed. Implications for coordination in general and transactive memory specifically are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This research examined the influence of contrasting instructional approaches on children’s decision-making competence. A total of 764 fifth graders, mostly African Americans and Hispanic Americans, from 36 classrooms in eight public schools serving children from low-income families completed a six-week unit on wolf management, using either direct instruction or collaborative groups, or were waited-listed controls. Analysis of children’s essays on a topic unrelated to wolves revealed that students who participated in collaborative groups but not students who received direct instruction acquired decision-making strategies and transferred them to the novel task. Students in collaborative group work classrooms wrote essays that were significantly better than essays of students from direct instruction classrooms in each of the three aspects of decision making that were evaluated—considering more than one side of a dilemma, comprehensiveness of reasons, and weighing the importance of reasons. In contrast, direct instruction students performed no better than uninstructed control students.

The article is the result of a collaborative group text, after discussion between the authors, based on the debate about their produced texts, further information from developed Capability Project: Digital Inclusion Workshop, developed at the Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology at PUCRS, and new information collected from the Extension Courses: Education, Inclusion and Aging, at PUCRS. Through the analysis of the speeches of those seniors who participated in the workshops, we listed some possibilities for the coming years on human development, especially in late adulthood, and for the idea of a healthier and more qualified lifespan approach.

O presente artigo tem como objetivo proporcionar a compreensão do efeito de inibição colaborativa. Este efeito, traduz-se no facto de o desempenho mnésico de um grupo colaborativo ser inferior ao desempenho de um grupo nominal. Para tal, ao longo desta revisão focaremos os principais estudos e resultados no âmbito da memória colaborativa; identificaremos os fatores e variáveis que influenciam este efeito; e, finalmente debateremos as principais hipóteses explicativas do efeito de inibição colaborativa. This article aims to provide an understanding of collaborative inhibition effect. This effect is reflected in the fact that the memory performance of collaborative group is less than the performance of the nominal group. To this end, throughout this review we will focus on the main studies and results in the context of collaborative memory; identify the factors and variables that influence this effect; and finally we will discuss the main explanatory hypotheses of collaborative inhibition effect.

The present study examined the relationship between second-year medical students’ group performance and individual performance in a collaborative-learning environment. In recent decades, university professors in the scientific and humanistic disciplines have successfully put into practice different modalities of collaborative approaches to teaching. Essentially, collaborative approach refers to a variety of techniques that involves the joint intellectual effort of a small group of students, which encourages interaction and discussion among students and professors. The present results show the efficacy of collaborative learning, which, furthermore, allowed students to participate actively in the physiology class. Average student’s grades were significantly higher when they engaged in single-best-response, multiple-choice tests as a student team, compared with taking the same examinations individually. The method improved notably knowledge retention, as learning is more effective when performed in the context of collaborative partnership. A selected subset of questions answered wrongly in an initial test, both individually and collectively, was used on a second test to examine student retention of studied material. Grade averages were significantly improved, both individually and groupwise, when students responded to the subset of questions a second time, 1, 2, or 3 wk after the first attempt. These results suggest that the collaborative approach to teaching allowed a more effective understanding of course content, which meant an improved capacity for retention of human physiology knowledge.