What influences interaction in group work in elementary classrooms? An exploratory study using dynamic network actor models
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | Group work in elementary classrooms plays an important role in pupils’ both learning and socializing processes. Based on the sociocultural theory of Vygotsky, group work allows pupils to learn through collaborative dialogues by internalizing gained knowledge in social settings. However, students do not benefit from group work equally. Some students actively participate in group work more while some struggle to participate at all and are sometimes not included in any interaction with the rest of the group whatsoever. Previous research has shown a negative relationship between the lack of individual student’s participation and their academic performance. It is therefore crucial to understand what enters interaction processes during group work at schools. This research will aim to investigate interaction in group work in elementary classrooms using dynamic network actor models (DyNAMs) and address the question what influences interaction in group work in elementary classrooms. The study will be based on around twenty group work lesson recordings – each containing several pupil groups of four to six – from Czech elementary classrooms allowing time-stamped and fine-grained network analysis. Several student-level variables including gender, SES, and friendship relations will be included. The DyNAMs grasp interaction in the form of temporal and relational network data aiming to incorporate both larger social context and personal preferences and attributes. The resulting models will be aggregated and will provide an insight into why some students interact with others during group work while others do not with a focus on influence of student friendship relations, student characteristics, and structural effects. |
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