Learning in the Context of Peer Collaboration: A Pluralistic Perspective on Goals and Expertise

Abstract

A pluralistic perspective on children's collaborative problem solving was used to investigate the performance of 19 dyads of fourth- and seventh-grade students while they worked on a projection of shadows task. All students were videotaped during their individual pretest and posttest sessions and during multiple dyadic sessions. The videotaped individual sessions were coded to assess two indices of thinking: transformational reasoning and geometric description. The dyadic sessions were coded to characterize the division of labor while experimenting. Repeated measures analyses of variance revealed that, on the average, students gained in transformational reasoning hut not in geometric description. However, one quarter of the sample gained in geometric description but not in transformational reasoning. Case study analyses were used to explore the diversity of performance patterns across sessions for individual dyads. The results for three dyads are discussed in detail to illustrate the emergence of new goals and expertise during peer collaboration. These findings suggest that future studies must take account of the plurality of goals, interests, and expertise that emerges during social interaction in order to effectively evaluate peer collaboration.