“What Do You Reckon?” Examining High-Level Content-Related Interactions Among Australian Upper Primary Students in Science

• In Event: Roundtable Session 68
  In Roundtable Session: Current Issues in Cooperative Learning

Abstract

Cooperative group work in primary (elementary) science classrooms is seen as an authentic representation of science that facilitates high levels of engagement with scientific content. Video footage of cooperative groups from two science classes was analysed to see if high-level content-related interactions occurred. High-level content group interactions did occur across all seven groups with variations among the groups. The frequency and duration of these interactions were analysed to identify possible patterns in group characteristics and triggers. Different patterns of useful behaviours seemed to be associated with the frequency and duration of high-level content-related group interactions while no specific pattern of trigger events was identified across all groups. Interestingly, no episodes of high-level content-related group interactions were triggered by the teacher

Authors

• Amanda Woods-McConney, Murdoch University

• Marold S. Wosnitza, RWTH Aachen University