EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Chapter 15 page 345

Therefore, students may be more likely to be actively engaged in learning during group work than in whole-
class discussions.
Much of the research on what I have been calling collaborative learning has used the term
cooperative learning. Although some view cooperative learning to refer only to some formats for learning
in groups, I will use the term collaborative learning because it has a stronger connotation of students
constructing new ideas together.

COLLABORATIVE LEARNING: GOALS, OBSTACLES,
AND PRODUCTIVE PROCESSES
In this section, we will examine the central goals of collaborative lerning as well as some obstacles
that can get in the way of achieving these goals. Then we will examine seven productive collaborative
group processes that can help groups achieve the goals of collaborative learning while sidestepping the
obstacles. Figure 15.1 summarizes the goals, the obstacles, and the processes.

Figure 15.1: Promoting the goals of collaborative learning through effective instructional
methods

This figure illustrates that the instructional methods that we will examine in this chapter promote
the core learning processes, which in turn promote the attainment of the goals of collaborative
learning. These methods also discourage processes that are obstacles to effective collaborative
groups.

Instructional methods for

promoting effective group

processes

Reward structures

Guided cooperation

Complex tasks

Scaffolding

Preteaching knowledge,

strategies

Task decomposition

Cognitive prompts

Social and cognitive roles

Hints

Self-evaluation

Fading scaffolding

Preparing students for group

work

Reducing status differences

What teachers do during group

collaboration

Group size and composition

promote

discourage

Core processes of

effective collaborative

groups

Engagement

Positive

interdependence

Mutual respect

Balanced interactions

High-quality strategy

use

Uptake of ideas

Goals of collaborative

learning

Learning

Teamwork skills

Liking diverse peers

Prosocial attitudes

and behavior

Reduce differences in

social status

promote

Obstacles to effective collaborative groups

Off-task behavior Negative interactions

Social loafing No interactions

Unequal interaction Low-quality interactions

Exacerbation of status

differences