The Interplay of Peer Relationships, Classroom Discourse, and Reasoning

• In Event: 75.018 - Motivation and Learning in Groups

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the interaction between peer relationship and children’s dialogic argumentation, and their joint effect on children’s ability to reproduce arguments on a complex policy issue. 218 fifth grade students in 12 classrooms were video taped as they completed a six-week unit on wolf reintroduction and management. Analyses of a systematic sample of excerpts from videos and student letters laying out their arguments in favor or in opposition to wolf reintroduction showed that students in groups with more positive peer dynamics and more relational dialogue were more likely to produce sophisticated reasoning and argument in their writing.

Authors

• Jingjing Sun, University of Montana

• Joshua Morris, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Richard C. Anderson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Brianne Delisi, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Samantha Shah, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Ruotian Wang, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign