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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION, CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND
1.1 Introduction
This report presents the findings of a research study involving 2 projects that ran in tandem. The first project was designed to see if pupils involved in group work in science in primary school retained the gains achieved in this area 2 years later after transfer to secondary schools, and whether these gains transferred to other forms of science learning. The second project was designed to see if intervention by implementation of collaborative learning /group work in science at secondary level would lead to similar gains as in primary schools. The project involved recruiting teachers who would be willing to form an experimental group to try to teach science for 6 months using collaborative learning techniques. To help the teachers develop collaborative learning in science continued professional development ( CPD) for secondary teachers in science collaborative learning techniques/ group work was planned and delivered. The teachers' abilities to implement the collaborative learning techniques in their science classrooms were then observed. This was coupled with pre-implementation test measures undertaken before the implementation of collaborative learning group work and post-implementation test measures taken 6 months later to assess any changes that may have been attributable to the project. The measures included specific and general tests of science attainment, including topics taught in both primary and secondary school and those taught in secondary schools only, and socio-emotional measures. In order to assess the potential impact of collaborative learning in comparison to what may have been expected to happen, control schools, who undertook the pre-implementation and post implementation tests at the same time as the experimental schools but did not use collaborative learning techniques, were also identified.
1.2 Background to the study
This study built on and extended various Economic and Social Research Council ( ESRC) Teaching and Learning Research Project ( TLRP) projects on effective collaborative group work in primary schools, particularly in science.
A Phase II TLRP project: 'Improving Effectiveness of Pupil Groups in Classrooms', involved the universities of London (Institute of Education), Cambridge, and Brighton 1. It sought to establish the conditions necessary for group activities to produce definite educational benefits, in terms of learning and quality of classroom relationships, and to design ways of helping teachers to introduce effective group work into their classes at Key Stages 1-3 of the National Curriculum in England.
The Group Work Scotland ( ScotSPRinG) project was an extension and development of this project into the Scottish context, also wholly funded by the ESRCTLRP programme. The full title of this project was "Supporting Group Work in Scottish Schools: Age and Urban/Rural Divide" 2. The project extended group work support to science teaching with 10-12 year olds in 4 types of primary school in Scotland:
- Small rural schools with composite classes and cross-age group work;
- Rural schools with same-age classes and group work;
- Urban schools with composite classes and cross-age group work;
- Urban schools with same-age classes and group work.
A brief list of main conclusions of the ScotSPRinG project is presented in Table 1.1.
Table 1.1 Conclusions of the ScotSPRinG project
1 Experimental pupils engaged in group work in science gained in science tests significantly more than control pupils.
2 There was some evidence of gains in mathematics in experimental pupils, suggesting some spontaneous transfer.
3 Regarding achievement gains, the differences between urban and rural, composite and single-age classes were not large - all types gained, although single-age urban tended to gain most.
4 In the social domain, both rural and urban pupils showed gains in the number of relationships reported. Single-age classes showed gains in in-class relationships, while rural classes showed gains in out-of-class relationships. Rural pupils started from a higher baseline in terms of a higher degree of connectedness at the beginning.
5 Urban single-age classes showed gains in self-esteem.
6 Positive changes in the quality of pupil to pupil interactions likely to promote learning and attainment, and linked with better attainment outcomes, were noted with urban single-age classes achieving the biggest gains albeit starting from the lowest baseline.
7 There was some evidence of different "types" of group work consisting of different types of "interaction talk" in practice - one more cognitive-discourse focused which resulted in higher achievement gains; and one more socio-emotionally focused which resulted in higher social gains.
8 The type of interaction noted was mostly cooperative learning in all class types - but where peer tutoring did occur it seemed very effective.
1.3 The theoretical background to the research
The principal issue motivating this research is that group work exists, but it is frequently not effectively planned. This leads to a key question: how can the quality of group work be improved in both primary and secondary schools, and does any improvement in this have any consequences at long-term follow-up in another school? Sustaining effective progression and transfer of learning between primary and secondary school has been a cause for concern for some time. Research suggests schools are relatively effective in "smoothing" transition with regard to socio-emotional aspects, but relatively ineffective in terms of students' learning progress ( e.g., Galton, Gray, & Ruddock, 2003). In parallel, the teaching of science (and particularly low attainment in science) in secondary schools (especially in the first 2 years) has been a cause for concern for some time ( e.g. Scottish Executive, 2000). Small-group discussions have been advocated in secondary school science for a number of years. However, a recent systematic review found that whether and how such discussions were structured was crucial for effectiveness (Bennett, Lubben, Hogarth, & Campbell, 2004).
Beyond such specifics, the concept of "transition" has rarely been clearly defined, let alone been embodied in an over-arching theoretical model. Research into the 'transition' of pupils from primary to secondary schools has tended to focus on the organisational structures and processes surrounding the progression of pupils from one part of the education system to another. By contrast, the theoretical concept of 'transfer' of learning has been explored very thoroughly in the cognitive science literature. However, the link between these has not often been made explicit.
From a theoretical perspective, the issue of transfer of learning across time and space has been a subject of sometimes polarised debate. The researchers took the (evidence-based) view that transfer of learning is possible but not automatic, and especially for "far" rather than "near" transfer the process requires scaffolding to ensure that it happens for all children. This essentially means that for transfer to occur in a context quite far removed from the original context, help and support may be required as well as illustrations of how to use the previous learning in the new context. From the research literature, a number of factors important in promoting transfer have been identified as shown in Table 1.2.
Table 1.2 Key factors for the promotion of learning transfer across time and space
1. A realisation by student and tutor that transfer is required.
2. Motivation (including perceptions of utility).
3. Self-confidence.
4. Teaching of generalisable principles and concepts to provide links to previous learning and wider concepts.
5. Appreciation of the social construction and communication of knowledge and skills.
6. Meta-cognitive/rule-induction strategy instruction, questioning, prompting, and feedback and coaching whereby, tutors asking the right questions help students question, reflect on and understand what they know, how they know that they know it and why they know that they know it.
7. Fostering the abstraction of principles from examples to help students to think beyond the immediate problem and make links between what they are doing at the moment, what they have done in the past and what they may do in the future.
8. Emphasis on structural similarities of diverse problems by providing additional experiences that are different to the problems already explored, but similar enough to allow some degree of knowledge and skills transfer to the new problem.
9. Control information-processing demands by reducing distracters i.e. keeping the student on the right track.
10. Student self-monitoring of process strategies used i.e. students asking themselves how they are doing and reflecting on what they have achieved and what they have learned.
11. Student self-monitoring of strategy effectiveness.
12. Student personal goal-setting.
13. Scaffolded self-regulation by giving students support and help to help them realise the things they are learning.
In the original ScotSPRinG project, experimental group primary teachers were encouraged to have pupils engage in activities likely to address a number of these factors (particularly 1-5, 8, 10-11 and 13). The activity cycle for each session included briefing and planning prior to activity and debriefing after it, the latter giving an ideal opportunity for transfer-enhancing discussion. However, it was evident from the classroom observations that different teachers were able to use these opportunities more or less well. The new investigation presented the opportunity to address issues of considerable significance concerning the role that might be played by group work in smoothing the transfer from primary to secondary school. The Scottish system encompasses a wide variety of primary school sizes and methods of organisation. Such variation is lessened at secondary level, however, where schools tend to be larger, and there might be greater emphasis on whole class teaching and less use of exploratory group work.
1.4 Outline of the current project
The current study investigated knowledge and motivation transfer across contexts, principally between primary and secondary education and transfer of collaborative learning techniques developed in the primary sector to the secondary sector. The conditions fostering such transfer were identified from previous research and from the materials and techniques previously found to have been successful in Scottish primary schools as outlined in Table 1.2 above.
The study was divided into 2 separate projects. The first project dealt with effective transfer for pupils between primary and secondary school (the ' Transition Project'). The second project dealt with exploring the effectiveness of collaborative groupwork at raising attainment and promoting more positive attitudes towards science in secondary school (The ' Collaborative Learning/Groupwork Project').
The Transition Project followed pupils who participated in the previous ScotSPRinG primary project into secondary school. It explored transfer to the secondary school environment of pupil domain-specific knowledge and skills and general social, communication and teamwork skills. The extent to which successful transfer was due to the quality of group work in primary school was explored.
The aims of the Transition Project were to:
- identify pupils who had been involved in the original groupwork project after they had undergone transition from primary to secondary school;
- explore whether gains in attainment in science, groupwork skills and socio-emotional aspects of learning observed in the original primary school project persisted over time and were still present after transition from primary into secondary school;
- explore if there was a relationship between the quality of primary school group work experiences and the persistence of the observed gains over time; and
- identify pupils for whom comparisons could be made between those who had been involved in the original study (follow-up pupils) and those who had not (non follow-up pupils).
The Collaborative Learning/Groupwork Project sought to implement group work techniques developed through the primary sector, in the context of support for secondary teachers through CPD and specially developed materials, and to explore the impact of such techniques on cognitive and social gains compared to existing methods of teaching and learning.
The Collaborative Learning Project aimed to:
- recruit secondary schools who would be willing to implement the collaborative learning techniques in their science classroom;
- deliver continuing professional development ( CPD) for teachers to support them in developing their pedagogical approaches to collaborative learning;
- establish a new collaborative learning project to see if this technique of learning and teaching could be as successful in the secondary school classroom as it had proved in the primary school classroom; and
- measure cognitive and social gains in an experimental and control sample to see if the collaborative learning technique was more effective than existing practices.
1.5 Overarching aims and objectives of the study
The overarching aims of the study were to explore whether gains (in attainment in science, transferable collaborative learning skills and socio-emotional aspects of learning) accrued from the development of high quality cooperative learning through group work. To this end the projects attempted to find evidence:
- of the transfer of the skills and knowledge developed by the original project in primary school such that there was evidence of these skills/knowledge after transition from primary into secondary school;
- that the provision of CPD and resources for secondary teachers could help secondary school teachers develop collaborative learning in their science classrooms;
- that transfer of the skills and knowledge developed by the original project in primary school would be influenced by the quality of primary school group work experiences; and
- that transfer of the skills and knowledge developed by the original project in primary school would be influenced by the quality of secondary school group work experiences.
Two points that merit examination arise. To what extent can the support for increased provision of group work at secondary school level help bridge the transition from primary school activity, by connecting back to pupils' previous experiences of educational practices, and restoring a sense of engagement in familiar tasks. The second is how far any such effect is moderated by the exact nature of children's primary school experience. For instance, the transition to secondary school represents a substantially bigger shift for rural children than for urban, since it is likely to involve them in being bussed out of their immediate community, and being required to interact for the first time with others who are largely unfamiliar to them. This jump being larger, there is some reason to expect them to experience greater difficulty over the transition, and thus to benefit more from the provision of connections back to prior practices. At the same time, however, this may present greater difficulties, since secondary school organisation might typically preclude cross-age group work, so even where joint activity does occur it may tend to have a less familiar dynamic, and thus to be less effective in smoothing the primary-secondary transition. Gathering hard data on these points not only addressed the issue of transition itself, but served to test further the generalisability of the project intervention methodology at secondary level across different types of circumstance, and in consequence added further to the elaboration of the social pedagogy aimed at by the original project.
1.6 Structure of the report
The remainder of this report is set out as follows:
The references follow along with 2 annexes, one of which indicates sources of further information and materials deriving from this project and the second of which contains detailed school by school results.
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