Collaborative peer learning in the laboratory

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper reports a study of students' group learning behaviour in a laboratory course in experimental engineering at the University of New South Wales, Australia. Observations of students at work, together with students' own reports of their group activities, indicate continuing group involvement in an extensive range of collaborative peer learning activities. Observations of variations in group behaviour strongly suggest that the different demands built into individual exercises are major influences on the nature and extent of collaboration within groups. Students' reports of group behaviour reinforce observations that most students had participated in group decision-making in all exercises, and that group decision-making was seen by students as a necessary part of problem resolution in each exercise. The special nature of the design of the laboratory course under investigation—in which student groups were required in each exercise to decide for themselves how to define the task and to determine how to proceed at each stage—was seen as a key element in fostering sustained collaborative peer learning in the laboratory setting. It is argued that where designers of laboratory courses intend to make provisions for students to work in small groups on a common task, emphasis should be given to ensuring that each exercise contains at least one problematic aspect which engages the group in extended thought and discussion before taking decisions and actions on which successful completion of the exercise are contingent.