Influence of Collaborative Reasoning on Adolescents' Social Integration in Friendship Networks

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: Fostering Engagement: Social and Collaborative Considerations

Abstract

This study examined the influence of Collaborative Reasoning (CR) on adolescents’ social integration in classroom friendship networks. The data included 474 seventh graders in a rural middle school in north China. Students were from eight mixed classes with 80% high-achieving students and 20% low-achieving students. Four classes were randomly selected to participate in CR discussions while the remained four classes took regular teacher-directed Chinese reading classes. The analysis of classroom friendship networks showed that low-achieving students in CR classes formed significantly more social ties with high-achieving peers after having collaborative discussions, while control students had few or no cross-cluster social ties. The results suggest that Collaborative Reasoning may be a promising instructional method to promote Chinese children’s social development.

Author

• Shufeng Ma, East China Normal University