Collaborative Group Work Research Articles

An Analysis of Collaborative Group Work in the Primary School and the Factors Relevant to its Success

Social constructivists have made continuous calls for more collaborative group work within primary pedagogy. They claim that such an organisational strategy will enable children to use talk to help them make meaning, and enhance their critical and creative thinking. It is widely acknowledged that organisation of children in groups has become a common device in primary schools; however, there is little evidence to suggest that children are working collaboratively. This paper presents classroom data of group work in practice. It is drawn from ten years' experience of collaboration between a classroom teacher and researcher. The findings support the view that collaborative learning tasks need careful planning of both the task and the classroom organisation. It is argued that the composition of collaborative groups should be careful planned to take account of the social contexts in which group work takes place. Transcripts of children's talk are analysed to see how the composition of the groups, the task set,...

User interface and agent prototyping for flexible working

A collaborative work group that links workers through distributed computers is only as productive as the system itself. Software agents are emerging as a way to boost workers' productivity, performing group tasks independently. The authors use a typical business conference as an example to show how graphical models and agent prototyping empower flexible working environments.

The Pedagogy of the World Studies 8‐13 Project: the influence of the presence/absence of the teacher upon primary children's collaborative group work

The World Studies 8‐13 Project was set up in 1980, to help young people to develop the knowledge and skills they need to live in an interdependent world. Collaborative group work is a major element of its pedagogy. In this research, children's interactions in these settings have been analysed in order to compare the effect of the presence/absence of the teacher upon their participation. In groups without the teacher, it was found that children used relevant concepts to initiate their ideas and were overwhelmingly ‘on task’. However, children often failed to apply listening and questioning skills and were unable to sustain continuity in discussion. They did not always justify their ideas with reasons and evidence. They found it difficult to cope with problems of group relations. In contrast, the presence of the teacher usually correlated with improved quality and continuity. The teacher's interventions stimulated the pupils to elaborate on their ideas with explanations and evidence and helped to control group relations. It follows that in the early stages with young children, the teacher's presence and support in modelling group work skills can be crucial.

'Best Friends': A case-study of girls' reactions to an intervention designed to foster collaborative group work

In this article, we provide an account of how two high achieving girls reacted to a teaching intervention designed to foster collaborative group work. The study focuses on the varying aspects of the girls cultural practices as they experienced tensions and contradictions in their relationships with each other and with other pupils. Their main interest appeared to involve action to gain support for basic emotional security and the maintainance of their identity as high achievers. The girls were primarily influenced by a competitive individualist ideology which we believe was 'deviant' in terms of the values of the project, but not in terms of the values of the school.

Collaborative group inquiry-a blend of research and therapy

Abstract This paper discusses the methodology and process of a collaborative group inquiry that successfully combined the separate goals of research and social work practice in the same project. It describes the collaborative group work approach used to explore the impact of meditation on the lives and health of six people diagnosed with cancer. It highlights how the inquiry members gained increased awareness, leading to insight and change, during the process of creating a rich and detailed body of knowledge offered to enhance the understanding of others. The paper does not report these research findings, but focuses on the group's use of a post-positivist, open-ended and empowering inquiry mode that participants reported as more relevant, supportive and stimulating than the other cancer support groups they had attended.

The potential of collaborative group work to increase pupil learning in the implementation of design and technology in the National Curriculum

ABSTRACTDesign and technology is a relatively new subject in the National Curriculum for England and Wales. This paper presents a theoretical consideration of design and technology and argues that it has the potential to provide a classroom context which encourages critical thinking and analytical competence in pupils. This claim is based on the view that design and technology requires a type of classroom interaction that is different from that most commonly practised in our schools, both primary and secondary. Learning in design and technology depends upon collaboration between teacher and pupils, and between the pupils themselves, and as such is ideally suited to the development of collaborative learning, a method of learning which encourages decision making after a period of critical enquiry and experimentation. We further argue that the successful implementation of the design and technology curriculum hinges upon the development of classroom talk, because talk plays the central role in the development of critical thinking, reflection and evaluation, all important features of design and technology.

Developing Collaborative Group Work in the Primary School: The Importance of Metacognition

ReadingVolume 29, Issue 2 p. 11-15 Developing Collaborative Group Work in the Primary School: The Importance of Metacognition Frank Hardman, Frank Hardman CONTACT THE AUTHORS: Frank Hardman, Department of Education, University of Newcastle, St Thomas' Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU.Search for more papers by this authorSue Beverton, Sue Beverton CONTACT THE AUTHORS: Frank Hardman, Department of Education, University of Newcastle, St Thomas' Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU.Search for more papers by this author Frank Hardman, Frank Hardman CONTACT THE AUTHORS: Frank Hardman, Department of Education, University of Newcastle, St Thomas' Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU.Search for more papers by this authorSue Beverton, Sue Beverton CONTACT THE AUTHORS: Frank Hardman, Department of Education, University of Newcastle, St Thomas' Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU.Search for more papers by this author First published: July 1995 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9345.1995.tb00142.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Volume29, Issue2July 1995Pages 11-15 RelatedInformation

Gender Issues in Groupwork—a case study involving with with computers

AbstractThe paper reports my work as a teacher researcher on the Economic and Social Research Council funded project, ‘Groupwork with Computers’. It looks at intervention strategies that were adopted to promote gender equality and explores briefly other gender issues that emerged from the study. Data were gathered by interviewing pupils and colleagues and by classroom observation. It addresses the concerns of those teachers who find that despite their sensitivity to gender as an issue, the expected benefits do not necessarily accrue. It suggests that a greater emphasis on collaborative groupwork might in these circumstances be a fruitful path to pursue, in particular by encouraging children, and especially boys, to focus on their partners as well as the task.

The structure of group conflict in a collaborative work group during information systems development

Abstract This research used an alternative strategy for analyzing speech acts to investigate the structure of collaborative work group conflict. Results from hierarchical log‐linear and regression analyses of taped interactions over 20 group meetings revealed three patterns of group conflict behaviors: (a) high levels of group conflict dominated all meetings between users and information systems personnel; (b) group conflict was exhibited as multiple cycles of conflict followed by accompanying resolution; and (c) group conflict shifted dramatically from distributive, competitive behaviors to integrative, cooperative behaviors at approximately the midpoint in the sequence of meetings. These results showed that conflict plays two important roles in group process: facilitating learning during the distributive period and building consensus during the integrative period. To manage conflict effectively in the future, collaborative groups should understand first the importance of “kicking around the problem “ to...

Distributed coordination models for client/server computing

A major limitation in the basic client/server model is its focus on clients requesting individual services. Clients often need to invoke multiple services, coordinated to reflect how those services interrelate and contribute to the overall application. Important examples include task allocation and event notification in collaborative workgroup systems, and task sequencing and routing in workflow applications. Failure to address control requirements for such interactions has impeded development of uniform methods and tools for building many types of distributed systems with client/server architectures. The article identifies and examines extensions to the basic client/server model that provide explicit support for coordinating multiserver interactions. >

Leadership, Moral Development, and Citizenship Behavior

This paper suggests that different styles of leadership arouse different sorts of normative motivation among followers, and these diverse motivational sources in turn are associated with different forms of participant contribution to organizational success. Three interrelated clusters of leadership styles, normative motivation of followers, and organizational citizenship behavior are described. Leadership that appeals exclusively to followers’ self-interests is associated with preconventional moral development and dependable task performance. Leadership styles focusing on interpersonal relationships and social networks are associated with followers’ conventional moral development and work group collaboration. Transforming leadership that both models and nurtures servant leadership abilities is associated with post-conventional moral development and responsible participation in organizational governance.

Leadership, Moral Development, and Citizenship Behavior

Abstract:This paper suggests that different styles of leadership arouse different sorts of normative motivation among followers, and these diverse motivational sources in turn are associated with different forms of participant contribution to organizational success. Three interrelated clusters of leadership styles, normative motivation of followers, and organizational citizenship behavior are described. Leadership that appeals exclusively to followers’ self-interests is associated with preconventional moral development and dependable task performance. Leadership styles focusing on interpersonal relationships and social networks are associated with followers’ conventional moral development and work group collaboration. Transforming leadership that both models and nurtures servant leadership abilities is associated with post-conventional moral development and responsible participation in organizational governance.

Collaborative groupwork: How infant children can manage it

(1994). Collaborative groupwork: How infant children can manage it. Education 3-13: Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 20-28.

Communication convergence in electronically supported discussions: An adaptation of Kincaid's convergence model

Group Support Systems (GSS) support intellectual and collaborative group work. For example, one type of GSS is Electronic Meeting Systems (EMS). EMS provide software to facilitate a group's ability to brainstorm and organize ideas, and then formulate, select, or prioritize alternatives. Accompanied by human facilitation, EMS use information technology to augment team meetings by (a) fostering independent thinking without disruption, and (b) enabling better understanding and agreement among team members. Existant models of communication do not effectively portray the communication interaction occurring in EMS (or the broader umbrella of GSS). The purpose of this article is to extend Kincaid's convergence model and present a preliminary, holistic, conceptual model of communication that includes the contributions GSS makes to communication effectiveness in group discussions. The suggested model portrays the interactivity of group participants and accounts for process losses and/or process gains (termed “noise” and “noise abatement”) which may affect the GSS process. Additionally, the model shows the connection between the communication process and the participants' contextual linkages to what has happened in the past and what will occur after the communication ends.

Beginning computer-based modelling in primary schools

This paper describes an investigation of how children in primary schools can start to build their own models on a computer and what skills are inherent in this modelling process. The study focused on qualitative modelling using a rule-based expert system shell, Expert Builder, which made the knowledge structure and inference mechanism clearly visible to and manipulable by the user through a graphical user interface. The study was conducted within typical classroom contexts where pupils worked in groups on various activities. Towards the end of the study some of the pupils were able to structure and develop models without any help. An analysis of the pupils' activities was carried out using elements of learning taxonomies developed by Ennis, Kyllonen and Shute and Sternberg. A combination of the approaches of these three taxonomies enabled the clarification of specific modelling skills and general learning skills involved in modelling activities and provides one way of comparing modelling activities in terms of their component skills although it takes no account of the social interactions that also played an important part in the activities in this study. The national curriculum attainment target suggests that being able to build models on a computer is at attainment level 6 or 7 that is only likely to be reached by pupils over the age of 11. This study has shown that computer-based qualitative modelling can be successfully undertaken as collaborative group work by children aged 8–11.

Chapter 2: Creating an Environment for Learning Mathematics: Social Interaction Perspective

It was with the theoretical ideas about constructivists' view of learning discussed in the preceding chapter that we began our collaboration with the classroom teacher. We met weekly in the spring before the teaching experiment year to discuss our theoretical perspective and to view selected videotapes of interviews with her students in the fall (cf. Cobb, Yackel, & Wood, 1991; Cobb, Wood, & Yackel, 1990). Although we communicated our intentions in discussions about the importance of problem solving for learning and the necessity of social interaction and class discussion, it was still the teacher's obligation to enact these in the classroom. Admittedly we were well aware that children actively discussing challenging problems in primary grades was different from the way mathematics had been taught in the past, but we had not yet realized the extent to which these ideas would influence the practice of elementary school mathematics. These aspects-challenging problems, collaborative group work, and class discussion about students' solutions-were, for the teacher, against tradition. It was accepted practice for her to initiate grouped settings and discussions in social studies, science, and reading, but she did not do this in mathematics. It was against this background that the classroom teaching experiment began.

Contesting the objectivist paradigm: gender issues in the technical and professional communication curriculum

The inclusion of a course in gender issues in a technical communication curriculum affords students the opportunity to confront objectivist and rationalist paradigms still found in the discourse of technical communication. The theoretical and practical foundations of a course that examines feminist inquiry into the production and dissemination of knowledge, as well as the language practices associated with professional writing and communication, are discussed. Issues of gender roles within organizational collaborative work groups, as well as issues related to gendered assumptions in science and technology, are also integral parts of the course design. A description of objectives, assignments, and tests for the course, as well as a full syllabus, are included. >

Verification data for electron beam dose algorithms.

The Collaborative Working Group (CWG) of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) electron beam treatment planning contract has performed a set of 14 experiments that measured dose distributions for 28 unique beam-phantom configurations that simulated various patient anatomic structures and beam geometries. Multiple dose distributions were measured with film or diode detectors for each configuration, resulting in 78, 2-D planar dose distributions and one, 1-D depth-dose distribution. Measurements were made for 9- and 20-MeV electron beams, using primarily 6 x 6- and 15 x 15-cm applicators at several SSDs. Dose distributions were measured for shaped fields, irregular surfaces, and inhomogeneities (1-D, 2-D, and 3-D), which were designed to simulate many clinical electron treatments. The data were corrected for asymmetries, and normalized in an absolute manner. This set of measured data can be used for verification of electron beam dose algorithms and is available to others for that purpose.

Collaborative Consultation: The San Juan Unified School District Project

Critically needed in the area of school consultation are field-based, evaluation reports of outcomes of actual implementation of school consultation. This article is such a report, describing how the Resource/Consulting Teacher model was implemented with resource specialists in a pilot program in Sacramento, California. We describe: (a) the procedures necessary to bring about such an implementation, (b) the district itself, and (c) the training efforts made to prepare the resource specialists for the new role. Emphasis is placed on how 13 resource specialists formed a collaborative working group among themselves, as well as their efforts to engage in collaborative consultation with classroom teachers and building administrators to assist certain special education students and certain students at risk for school failure. Preliminary evaluation data are included that describe the progress of individual students and groups of elementary students (N = 79) who received specialized remedial reading instruction,...

GROUP DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS A Key to Business Team Productivity

Abstract During the 1980s, microcomputers provided capabilities for such personal computing and information-handling tasks as financial analysis, word processing, and data base management. The 1990s signal the beginning of a major development period for information technology that supports people working in small groups. As collaborative work groups and business teams become more prevalent, the demand for group decision support systems, or GDSS tools, will increase. The next five years should see a rapid dissemination of GDSS technology into organizations.