Children's Causal Reasoning During Collaborative Discussions

• In Event: 54.027 - Best Practices in Peer and Collaborative Learning

Abstract

The construction of multi-link causal reasoning chains was investigated in 24 collaborative discussions involving 160 underserved fifth-grade children. The effects of group features and individual characteristics on seven causal chain models were tracked in the discussions. Children’s basic English proficiency, talkativeness, and perceived leadership significantly predicted causal chain production. Children with high status in the classroom social network tended to initiate chains whereas low status children tended to add to or elaborate chains. Groups with a combination of high and low status children tended to produce more co-constructed chains. There was less and less time between successive chains generated during discussions.

Authors

• Shufeng Ma, Tsinghua University

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