Research on collaborative learning of computer science has been conducted primarily in programming. This paper extends this area by including short tasks (such as those used in contests like the Bebras Challenge) that cover many other computer science topics. The aim of this research is to explore how problem-solving in pairs differs from…

Insights on students' own authentic design practices--nascent design practices without much adult guidance--are crucial to informing responsive facilitation of engineering design tasks. This study unpacks how elementary students interpret teacher given information about a design task, and interact with each other and given resources, to traverse a…

The authors wondered if there was a way to support their reluctant Grades 4, 5, and 6 students in contributing their starting points and strategies and advancing their collective knowledge. They wanted to ensure that the students had the space to develop and take ownership of the strategies they produced through a visual representation of ideas…

Little is known about young CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) learners' attention to formal aspects of the target language when engaged in collaborative task-based interaction. Previous research on language-related episodes (LREs) with other populations indicates that certain variables (e.g. target language proficiency or pair…

Metacognition is a core process in human learning. The problem is that learners are not often aware of their metacognition. The purpose of this study is to examine learners' metacognitive awareness in terms of their situation-specific perceptions in collaborative learning tasks. Upper elementary school students (N = 92) filled in a Metacognitive…

In this study we analysed what computational thinking skills pupils used when programming a small robot to solve a given problem, a simple programming task in which pupils had to select codes and put them in the correct place. Computational thinking is the process of (re)formulating a problem so that it becomes possible to use computer technology…

Background: Virtual manipulatives (VMs) are increasingly adopted in inquiry activities. However, the effects of the ratio of mobile device-based VMs to students and external scripts (a guiding structure for prompting group process) provision on group interaction has not been detailed. Objectives: This study proposed four different technology…

When two third-graders collaboratively manipulated a multi-modal, digital learning device called TouchTimes (hereafter, TT), that introduces multiplication through visual, tangible and symbolic means, their thinking about quantity shifted from being additive to being multiplicative. In this study, I examine the children's interactions around/with…

This paper uses the commognitive framework to analyse how a group of four primary school students classify odd and even numbers. The findings show how students' reasoning is grounded in their personal uses of "odd" and "even". The students attend to different features of "oddness" and "evenness" and agree on…

Task modality (oral vs. writing) has been found to affect the production, nature and resolution of the language-related episodes (LREs) produced by adult learners in collaborative interaction, a finding also attested in very recent and still limited research with young learners, a population that deserves greater attention in the literature.…

In this article we show how students' productive struggle on a mathematical task can lead to collective mathematical creativity. We use observable (co)actions and interactions from a video record that features three Grade 6 students in a problem-solving session to document the emergence of collective creativity leading to a solution. We discuss…

Motivation has been widely considered one of the most influential variables in the field of second language learning. Motivation may vary throughout the years, even within the duration of a single language class, and this might occur due to different factors, such as the choice of tasks or the activity type (i.e., collaborative or individual).…

Literacy in a first language or in additional languages involves a set of complex cognitive, social, and linguistic skills that develop over time. However, pedagogical materials for low-proficiency English as an additional language (EAL) learners tend to target low-level literacy skills only, such as responding to fact-based questions. Materials…

Recent research in collaborative learning has indicated that peer assessment has a positive influence on students' learning performance and learning process. This study investigates how the different subgroups of two roles (assessors and assessees) in peer assessment contribute to students' perceptions of science learning in mobile…

Studies on multi-stage writing tasks with adults and children have shown that model texts and task repetition aid language acquisition, especially when learners work in collaboration. However, these studies have not included measures of task motivation, which is vital in young learners (YLs) and could help develop a more comprehensive…