Collaborative Interactions at the Microcomputer Keyboard

Abstract

Abstract Two studies are reported, both concerned with microcomputer use in the context of collaborative groups. The first study, conducted with eight year‐olds, examines whether the opportunity to practise a problem solving task in pairs produces better subsequent individual performance on the task than does individual practice. Evidence was found for such peer‐facilitation only when children were constrained to collaborate by the imposition of a ‘dual key’ entry requirement. The second study, conducted with 11‐year‐olds, compares the functioning of two types of group over a series of sessions during which the children were introduced to database software. Groups formed on the basis of nominations of preferred working partners were found to demand less teacher intervention and to make fewer minor errors than groups formed on the basis of arbitrary allocation. The possibilities offered by the microcomputer in the classroom for experimentally rigorous but ecologically valid research are discussed.