The Cognitive Consequences of Collaboration: Why Ask How?
page 11+. Society for Research in Child Development, (March 1993)Abstract
The outcomes of collaboration provide an incomplete and potentially misleading picture of cognitive change, one that is clarified by examining the collaborative processes themselves. Results from a study illustrate the dangers of focusing solely on the consequences of collaboration and emphasize why the analysis of collaborative processes is essential. In the study, 180 children between 6 and 8 years of age were given a pretest in which they predicted the movement of a mathematical balance beam in 14 problems. Children were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: no partner, equally competent partner, more competent partner, and less competent partner. Some children received feedback and the others received no feedback. All children took 2 individual posttests, 4 days after and again 2 weeks after the problem solving. When viewed from the perspective of the outcomes of collaboration, results indicated that those who received feedback improved more than those who did not. However, when considered from the perspective of collaborative processes, results revealed that, far from being the main determinant of cognitive change, feedback was mediated by the nature of the collaboration between partners. It is clear that an approach that relies on independent variables may be less useful in understanding the cognitive consequences of collaboration than an approach that questions how collaboration impacts cognitive development. (MM)