How Should Collaborative Pairs Be Grouped?

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

Abstract

We use data from three previous studies to examine the relative importance of interaction quality and prior knowledge for collaborative dyads and the role of collaborative interaction in attenuating the importance of prior knowledge differences between partners within dyads. We observed a significant effect of interaction quality in predicting student learning gains, whereas the difference in prior knowledge between partners was not significant. We also found a cross-level interaction, whereby the amount of time a class spent working in groups attenuated the relationship between students’ prior knowledge and learning gains. Together, these results suggest that, in practice, teachers should worry less about how students should be grouped, but focus more on how to elicit quality interactions between students.

Authors

• Joshua Russell Adams, Arizona State University - Tempe

• David L Yaghmourian, Arizona State University - Tempe

• Michelene T.H. Chi, Arizona State University