The individual problem-solving (IPS) and collaborative problem-solving (CPS) have received a lot of attention, yet little research has been conducted to investigate whether CPS and IPS are equally effective in improving students' understanding of physics concepts, problem-solving abilities, and minimizing achievement gaps. Therefore, the present…

Aim/Purpose: This study aimed to identify primary school teachers' perceptions of leveraging social media-based microlearning to improve students' English-speaking abilities. Background: The value of social media as an effective educational tool for English language learning has been recognized by educators in higher education in China. However,…

The present study investigated the extent to which 18 dyads in 5th and 6th grade, who experienced low levels of social challenge, differed from 12 dyads who experience high levels of social challenge in terms of the quality of their written assignment, as well as the frequency and sequential pattern of their cognitive, metacognitive, relational,…

When students are working together, some off-task conversations actually smooth the way to working together more effectively. While many assume that off-task talk is unproductive, our study revealed that students used off-task talk predominantly for productive purposes. We found that off-task talk supported student access to collaboration, and…

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of applying a Peer-Led Team Learning Instructional Model (PLTL) to the prospective primary school teachers in teaching the simple electrical circuits subject on the seven principles for good practice. This study used the three-group Solomon Experimental Design. The study participants were…

The study sought to determine the effects of teacher-introduced multimodal representations and discourse on students' task engagement and scientific language during cooperative, inquiry-based science. The study involved eight Year 6 teachers in two conditions (four very effective teachers and four effective teachers) who taught two units of…

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) are beneficial for individual students learning in several domains, including mathematics where they have been used to support both secondary and elementary students. Collaborative learning may be beneficial to include in ITSs, particularly for conceptual knowledge. There is little work on collaborative ITSs,…

Research on problem-based learning (PBL) has tended to focus on the graduate level of education, paying less attention to the primary school level and to what is involved for students during the implementation of PBL. In this paper we take a step towards addressing this need for research by reporting findings from a descriptive, explanatory case…

The Hong Kong Education Bureau recommends that primary school pupils' mathematical achievement be enhanced via collaborative discussions engendered by group work. This pedagogic change may be hindered by Confucian heritage classroom practices and Western-dominated group work approaches that predominate in Hong Kong. To overcome these obstacles, we…

While research indicates that technology can be useful for supporting learning and collaboration, there is still relatively little uptake or widespread implementation of these technologies in classrooms. In this paper, we explore one aspect of the development of a multi-touch classroom, looking at two different designs of the classroom environment…

Science education research has recommended cooperative inquiry based science in the primary science context for more than two decades but after more than 20 years, student achievement in science has not substantially improved. This study, through direct observation and analysis, investigated content-related student interactions in an authentic…

Robotics provide the opportunity for students to bring their individual interests, perspectives and areas of expertise together in order to work collaboratively on real-world science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) problems. This paper examines the nature of collaboration that manifests in groups of elementary and middle school…

This article presents the findings of ethnographic case studies of three girls on the autistic spectrum attending mainstream primary schools and illustrates the difficulties they experience and the ways in which these are often unrecognised. The observations of the girls and subsequent individual interviews with their mothers, class teachers,…

Little is known about the skills children need to successfully collaborate with classmates on academic assignments. The purposes of this study were to identify grade-schoolers' collaborative skills, evaluate the importance of identified skills for collaborative work, and determine whether differences in skill use were related to children's social…

Conversation is a strategy that helps students build reading skills and improve reading comprehension. This study describes the implementation of connection prompts in a 2nd-grade classroom to support students in making predictions, questioning the text, and initiating further conversation. Research suggests that once conversation is initiated,…