Mechanisms That Contribute to Learning In Experimental Small Groups

Abstract

Members of a semester-long, unstructured small group processes course were interviewed as to those trainer interventions that contributed most to their learning. A theoretical model explicating mechanisms of learning was formulated from such interventions on the basis of the interviews. The model divides trainers'teaching acts into three sequential levels: articulation (further divided into clarifying and sum marizing, simplifying complex thoughts, and timing and accuracy), legitimation (further divided into threat reduction, permission, and validation), and connections (further divided into transfer to outside and connection to culture). The proposed model complements an earlier model by Kuriloff, Babad, Samuels-Singer, and Sutton- Smith (1984) that provides a taxonomy of trainers'teaching acts in small groups. The combined analysis of teaching and learning contributes to a better understanding of the potential for integrating intellectual and affective learning in experiential small groups—a well-established and long-cherished goal in the teaching of psychology.