This article explores the types of interactions that take place within "Interactive Groups" when individuals come to a meaningful understanding of mathematics. We discuss the possibility for dialogic talk to unveil the process of learning, and we explore the role that tutors may play in making this process happen. We postulate that…

Various formats of online discussion have proven valuable for enhancing learning and collaboration in distance and blended learning contexts. However, despite their capacity to reveal essential processes in collaborative inquiry, current mainstream analytical frameworks, such as the cognitive presence framework (Garrison, Anderson, & Archer,…

This study proposes a new method named the IIS-map-based method for analyzing interactions in face-to-face collaborative learning settings. This analysis method is conducted in three steps: firstly, drawing an initial IIS-map according to collaborative tasks; secondly, coding and segmenting information flows into information items of IIS; thirdly,…

Self-managed learning groups are regularly used in higher education. However, there is little direct evidence as to strategies that can enhance their efficacy, or the factors that influence students' engagement with the process of self-management. If students are expected to manage their out-of-class collaborative learning experiences, then…

In this paper we focus on the role of signs in students' perceptive processes underpinning the generalization of numeric-geometric patterns. Based on a videotaped Grade 9 classroom group activity undertaken by three students and framed by a cultural-semiotic theoretical perspective, we carry out a microgenetic analysis of an elementary form of…

Background: To overcome the "teacher bandwidth problem" in supporting large groups of students, both automated process support (cueing) and face-to-face feedback by peers during small group work (collaboration) can be provided to students. Aim: The purpose of this experimental study was to examine whether a multimedia practical…

The authors investigated the microlevel processes of collaborative reasoning in heterogeneous peer dyads working on an open-design task in elementary geometry. Special attention was paid to the nature of student social interaction, problem-solving strategies, and mathematical language and how they shape collaborative problem-solving processes.…

This study was conducted on informal aspects of an inquiry-based physics course and reports findings about learning interactions and discourse observed during the first three semesters the course was offered. The course offered an alternative to the large lecture instruction typical in introductory university physics and promoted learning in an…