Developing productive peer talk in dialogic collaborative problem solving : a participatory visual learning analytical approach

Abstract

The quality of talk among students constrains the potential social, cognitive, and emotional gains from collaborative problem solving in classrooms. However, students may not engage in high-quality peer talk spontaneously, and teachers seldom offer explicit instruction on this. This thesis designed a technology-supported participatory visual learning analytical approach to help primary school students develop productive peer talk, in the context of dialogic collaborative problem solving, and evaluated its efficacy in comparison to traditional practice-based learning. Specifically, this thesis aims to (1) theoretically frame the definition and features of dialogic collaborative problem solving; (2) develop a theoretically warranted visual learning analytical tool iTalk–iSee to support teaching and learning productive peer talk; (3) design a technology-enhanced learning approach and evaluate its efficacy in developing productive peer talk, promoting participation equity, and improving group reasoning ability through field studies. This thesis adopted an overarching experimental design embedded with a design-based research design. Two academically comparable classes in one low-ranking primary school in China were randomly assigned as an intervention class (n = 59) and a comparison class (n = 59). Students in both classes practiced selected tasks in triads throughout a semester. Students in the intervention class also explicitly learned productive peer talk with the support of progressively modified iTalk–iSee. This thesis found that (1) young learners could effectively interact with iTalk–iSee as it was designed and enjoyed using it; (2) both classes used more productive peer talk moves for persuading and understanding others from pre- to post-test, while intervention students also used more productive peer talk moves for regulating team organizations and problem-solving activities; (3) intervention students experienced three emerged stages to learn and apply productive peer talk moves: intrusive application, structured application, and autonomous application; (4) intervention students had more equitable interactions than comparison students concerning responsiveness and distribution of participation opportunity; (5) the intervention class had (significantly) more sustained group thinking and (insignificantly) greater increases in group reasoning ability than the comparison class; (6) a dialogue-oriented group culture spontaneously emerged in the intervention class but not in the comparison class. This thesis contributes (1) a theoretical framework that conceptualizes productive peer talk moves as talk tools to fulfill the three talk virtues in dialogic collaborative problem solving: equity, open-mindedness, and convergence; (2) the first participatory visual learning analytical tool of its kind that aims to develop young learners’ skills to use productive peer talk moves by engaging them in its three-step affordances: code → visualize → reflect; (3) an innovative methodological design that embeds a design-based research approach in an experiment to satisfy double goals of research: evaluate the efficacy of a design and progressively improve it in the field; (4) a deeper understanding concerning the trajectory of learning and employing productive peer talk moves, as well as how productive peer talk promotes participation equity and improves group reasoning ability.