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Explanation Giving and Receiving in Cooperative Learning Groups

  • Chapter
The Teacher’s Role in Implementing Cooperative Learning in the Classroom

Part of the book series: Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning ((CULS,volume 8))

Students who give explanations to their peers learn more from small group discussions than students who do not. In this chapter, I will identify four instructional challenges posed by this finding: (a) explanation giving is rare; (b) usually upper ability students only offer explanations of their thinking, meaning that the students who could most benefit from this powerful learning strategy are least likely to engage in it; (c) asking for an explanation may not contribute to the learning of the explanation seeker; and (d) the quality of explanations provided by even the most able students tends to be poor. In this chapter I will describe four practical classroom strategies for improving the quality and frequency of explanations in cooperative learning groups. These strategies include direct teaching of help giving and help seeking, improving the social climate of the classroom, improving teacher interventions in small group activities, and implementing reciprocal roles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Toronto, Canada

    John A. Ross

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  1. John A. Ross
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Queensland, Qld 4072, Brisbane, Australia

    Robyn M. Gillies  & Adrian F. Ashman  & 

  2. Vrije University, 1081 BT, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Jan Terwel

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Ross, J.A. (2008). Explanation Giving and Receiving in Cooperative Learning Groups. In: Gillies, R.M., Ashman, A.F., Terwel, J. (eds) The Teacher’s Role in Implementing Cooperative Learning in the Classroom. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, vol 8. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-70892-8_11

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