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Recently I reported on one conundrum of learning in groups: that of optimal group formation i.e. should you group learners with similar ability or diverging ability for the best average learning outcomes.
That question seems to have been resolved. However there remain other questions such as how does group interaction affect learning?
A recently published study by Stephanie Halmo et al. of the University of Georgia has given us some interesting new insights into this.
To do this the researchers recorded the conversation of students in breakout groups in collaborative learning tasks. They analysed the conversation and identified a number of meta-cognitive statement that helped to move learning forward - these included asking for clarification, checking that the discussions and reasoning was guiding towards the actual goals of the group, but also, importantly, of correcting other students.
This correcting of other students seems to be particularly important — not just for the person being corrected but the whole groups. It is likely also the most difficult to do because of politeness or fear of conflict — yet this shows this is precisely the most important thing to do and serves the collective.
Another interesting feature and one that is counter-intuitive is that long…
