Shaping classroom social experiences through collaborative small-group discussions.

BACKGROUND: Students form interpersonal and intrapersonal classroom social experiences with peers. While diverse intervention programmes have been developed, few have integrated social-emotional learning into academic activities to maximize the potential for learning and development. AIMS: This study examined the effects of collaborative small-group discussions on students' classroom social experiences at the interpersonal and intrapersonal levels. SAMPLE: The study included 250 students (Mage = 10.98, female = 52%) and six teachers from 12 English language arts fifth-grade classrooms in two public schools in the United States. METHODS: Students were assigned to one of three conditions: Collaborative Social Reasoning (CSR), Read-Aloud (RA), or Regular Instruction (RI). Students in the CSR condition participated in recurrent collaborative small-group discussions about stories related to complex social-moral issues, including friendship, social exclusion, ethics of care, and responsibility. Students in the RA condition read the same stories without discussions. RESULTS: Collaborative Social Reasoning students were more socially accepted by peers and were less aggressive to others compared to students in the other conditions. RA students revealed more aggressive behaviour than other groups. In a post-intervention interview, CSR students reported improved communication and group work strategies, ability to maintain harmonious relationships, and class participation. A higher proportion of CSR students in the CSR than the other conditions reported experiencing positive change in classroom relationships. Teacher interviews were used in conjunction with student interviews to triangulate conclusions from qualitative interview data. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest effective ways to structure collaborative small-group discussions to foster positive classroom social experiences with peers.

Teacher Scaffolding of Social and Intellectual Collaboration in Small Groups: A Comparative Case Study.

This comparative case study features two small groups of students engaging in collaborative dialog about social issues. Based on social constructivist theories, the two groups were compared across three major components of the small groups system: social dynamics, intellectual collaboration, and teacher scaffolding. Our goal was to holistically analyze these small group processes to understand why some small groups were highly successful while others were not, even within the same intervention and with the same teacher. Successful groups were those in which all students were able to access the conversational floor, many ideas were considered, students were able to share ideas and discuss collaboratively, and students were able to raise multiple forms of social reasoning to support and explain ideas. Change in social reasoning essay scores prior to and after the intervention were also considered as evidence of group success. Results show that teacher scaffolding and existing student processes served to amplify one another reciprocally. The teacher heightened productive social norms when they were present, which then served to encourage productive intellectual collaboration. However, when productive group norms were not present, the teacher took increasing control over the group, which further hampered productive social and intellectual interactions.