Cooperative learning and dyadic interactions: two modes of knowledge construction in socio-constructivist settings for team-sport teaching

Abstract

Background: Within a socio-constructivist perspective, this study is situated at the crossroads of three theoretical approaches. First, it is based upon team sport and the tactical act model in games teaching. Second, it took place in dyadic or small group learning conditions with verbal interaction. Furthermore, these interventions were based on cooperative learning (CL) models. The cultural context is the French school curriculum, so it emphasizes the role of sports as social practice and uses the applied concept of French didactic transposition. It took place in a socio-constructivist perspective of the teaching-learning process and extends the notion of debate-of-idea.Purpose: This article explores the role of CL in a Physical Education (PE) classroom setting and particularly the role of verbal exchanges among peers in team-sport teaching.Research design: This article reports two interventions. The first study showed the positive effects of discussions within a team in an adapted basketball game. Seventeen boys and 13 girls from a French school (third and fourth grades), all novices in basketball, were assigned to two independent groups of a two (Learning condition) design. Dependent measures included collective game efficacy and individual skill levels. A second study concerned an instructional setting of a handball team game (two attackers against a defender in each half of the ground) with 11–12-year-old girls. Two groups were constituted by learning condition: symmetrical versus dissymmetrical dyads.Data collection and analysis: During PE lessons, verbal interactions were filmed and recorded for the two studies. Matches were filmed in study 1, while data in study 2 were collected by an expert on an observation worksheet. ANOVA were conducted in both studies.Results: The two studies showed that oral discussions between peers about the goal and the strategies of the game facilitated the development of motor and tactical skills. The second study showed the superiority of a slightly dissymmetric dyadic condition. The low-skilled pupils in dissymmetrical dyads obtained more benefit from the verbal interactions than those in a symmetrical setting. In the dissymmetrical condition, while the initially low-skilled participants had the highest rate of progression, the initially high-skilled players had to explain their solution and could also benefit from the dyadic interaction.Conclusion: In both studies, action rules were constructed by peers' verbal exchanges in a reflective way. In a PE socio-constructivist setting, the teaching of games facilitates mutual aid, social relationships, and participation in community activities.