Science museums (SMs) are important places for informal science learning, with visitors' self-directed social interactions affecting their learning outcomes. Analyzing group conversations with varying compositions in SMs can reveal visitor interactions characteristics, knowledge construction process, and emotional experiences during their visits.…

This article presents the results of a microanalysis of sequences when two or more deaf signers overlap. This contribution focuses on "cooperative overlap" - which consists of extended moments of turn-exchanges that move along the unfolding discourse while cohering interlocutors in relation to each other. This aspect of signed…

This dissertation asks what young children do with style at a time when their social and linguistic worlds begin to expand beyond the home, into the peer group. Grounded in a yearlong ethnography of a preschool classroom in the San Francisco Bay Area, I show how play moved gradually from indoors to outdoors as children got older. This shift…

Background: We investigate the nature of planning the canoeing of rapids and its reasoning processes, while at the same time advancing a syncretic approach to cognitive and situative theories of learning. Building upon the work of Lucy Suchman, we examine how canoers plan to run rapids and how plans serve as resources for action. Methods: In…

Effective communication and coordination supported by well-established patterns of interactions are vital to collaborative learning. The quality of social relationships among group members can affect group dynamics and communication, as well as further influence students' learning experiences and perceived learning outcomes. In this study, we…

New challenges in today's world have contributed to increased attention toward evaluating individuals' collaborative problem solving (CPS) skills. One difficulty with this work is identifying evidence of individuals' CPS capabilities, particularly when interacting in digital spaces. Often human-driven approaches are used but are limited in scale.…

An essential part of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is the students' group work. What happens in students' group work when no tutor/facilitator is present is normally a hidden land. Thus, there is limited research on students' interactional way of doing PBL, this study tries to amend this by looking at how students conduct group work without any…

The article introduces a systematic comparison of video-based dyadic interviews and focus groups using newly developed tools for evaluating the success of one way of doing focus groups over another. We conducted a series of online discussions using a video conferencing tool, half of which consisted of four-person focus groups and the other half…

Active Aging Learning Centers (AALCs) are scattered across various townships and districts in Taiwan and attract students with diverse backgrounds. Therefore, cultivating positive learning environments at AALCs is crucial. Influenced by Confucianism, ethnic Chinese societies emphasize interpersonal relationships, and traditional Confucian…

With the increasing complexity of the engineering role, today's graduates must be capable of confronting both technical and societal problems; underpinned by effective teamwork at their core. Problem-based learning has been implemented in engineering to better prepare students for modern industry. However, limited research has examined the complex…

The purpose of the present paper is to study the positions and emotions of grade 7 students who work with technology to learn geometry. This consideration of students' emotions is socially based, which makes it necessary to use a socially-based theoretical framework in order to study them. One such theory is the discursive analysis framework…

Door-to-door sales is an emotionally demanding job with a high rate of burnout and, as such, has been the subject of multiple studies on employee motivation. However, the role that communication among fellow sales team members plays in salesperson motivation has been largely neglected, which represents a critical gap in research considering the…

The community of inquiry framework identified three essential elements of cognitive, social, and teaching presences for a successful online learning experience. Among them, social presence is key for developing personal relationships and enhancing collaboration and critical discourse in online courses. This study examined whether providing more…

When students chatter in class it can be disruptive, but could that chatter also have some redeeming qualities? We asked students to keep track of their social interactions in a particular class. On days when students had more social interactions than usual, they reported a greater sense of belonging, which was, in turn, related to greater class…

Facilitating meaningful interaction among students is a significant challenge of teaching in the online environment. This paper presents a semester-long approach that enables quality interaction among group members within undergraduate online group communication courses while experiencing the challenges of working with geographically dispersed…