Socio-Cognitive Conflict and Cognitive Growth in Young Children.

Abstract

Pairs of 5to 7-year-old children who worked collaboratively on spatial perspec tive problems were compared to control subjects who worked individually on the same problems. Among experimental subjects, particular interaction strate gies were analyzed to determine what kinds of peer interaction provoke devel opment and why cognitive gains are sustained by some partners more than oth ers. Although children who worked in dyads generally did not do significantly better than children who worked alone, there were several critical features in the frequency and quality of their social interaction that were found to promote cognitive growth, including a curvilinear relationship between the expression of socio-cognitive conflict and cognitive change.