Which Group Dynamics Matter: Social Predictors of Student Achievement in Team-Based Undergraduate Science Classrooms.

While group work in undergraduate science education tends to have overall benefit, less is known about the specific peer-peer dynamics that optimize learning during group interaction. The current study used peer ratings and self-reported data from 436 students enrolled in team-based undergraduate science courses (biology or chemistry) to determine group dynamics that predicted both willingness to work with peers in the future and individual achievement in the course. Results show that greater personal connection and contributions predicted willingness to work with a group member (R2biology = 0.75; R2chemistry = 0.59). While active contribution to a group predicted greater achievement, more noncontent interactions (e.g., encouragement, listening to feedback, being polite) predicted lower achievement, despite these being on-task and relevant. Additionally, having group members who were willing to continue working with a student was a positive predictor of that student's achievement regardless of course. Strikingly, students in chemistry were significantly less willing to work with women in their groups compared with men. Finally, not all forms of group conflict predict decreased achievement. These findings highlight group factors such as student behavior within the group, aspects of the group social environment, and peer support that can be targeted for optimizing undergraduate science learning.

Accuracy and Idea Consideration: A Study of Small-Group Interaction in Biology.

Small-group discussion is a central component of 21st-century biology classrooms. Many factors shape these discussions and thus influence potential learning gains. This study examined how accuracy and idea consideration shaped small-group discussions in undergraduate biology labs (12 groups, M = 42.8 talk turns). To do this, we asked 1) Is there a relationship between a student's science accuracy and the amount peers consider the student's ideas? 2) To what extent does peer consideration of a student's ideas predict that student's ability to steer the conversation? Building on this second question, we then explored 3) Does general group academic ability or immediate conversational accuracy better predict group learning? To answer these questions, we coded aspects of discourse (science accuracy, idea consideration, etc.) before quantitative analysis. Strong correlation was found between students' science accuracy and idea consideration (r = 0.70). Both accuracy and idea building predicted one's ability to steer the conversation. Subsequent analysis highlighted the critical role of immediate discourse in group learning. Group-level analysis revealed that group performance was not related to the group's overall ability in the classroom, but rather the immediate accuracy of their group conversations. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Promoting Collaborative Classrooms: The Impacts of Interdependent Cooperative Learning on Undergraduate Interactions and Achievement.

Collaboration is an important career skill and vital to student understanding of the social aspects of science, but less is known about relationships among collaborative-learning strategies, classroom climate, and student learning. We sought to increase the collaborative character of introductory undergraduate laboratory classrooms by analyzing a 9-week intervention in 10 classrooms ( n = 251) that participated in cooperative-learning modules (promoting interdependence via a modified jigsaw technique). Students in an additional 10 classrooms ( n = 232) completed the same material in an unstructured format representative of common educational practice. Results showed that, when between-class variance was controlled for, intervention students did not score higher on weekly quizzes, but science interest and prior science experience had a reduced relationship to quiz performance in intervention classrooms. Also, intervention classrooms showed increased collaborative engagement at both whole-class and individual levels (24 students at three time points), but the intervention was only one of several factors found to account for late-intervention classroom collaborative engagement (prosocial behavior and discussion practices). Taken together, findings suggest that integrating interdependence-based tasks may foster collaborative engagement at both small-group and whole-classroom levels, but by itself may not be enough to promote increased student achievement.