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Peer collaboration in childhood according to age, socioeconomic context and task

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Abstract

From a socio-constructivist approach, this work aimed to analyze the characteristics of peer collaboration in dyads of children according to age (4, 8, and 12 years old), socioeconomic context (advantaged socioeconomic context and disadvantaged socioeconomic context), and task (block construction task and free drawing). Eighty-two children (41 dyads) completed both collaborative tasks. Interaction was videotaped and transcribed in terms of verbal and non-verbal behaviors. Interaction was analyzed by a system of exhaustive and mutually exclusionary socio-behavioral categories. The results suggested that age group and task were related to the main differences in peer collaboration. On one hand, dissociation was a typical scene of 4-year-old dyads, whereas the more socially integrated categories, i.e., Implicit Cooperation, Explicit Cooperation, Collaboration and Conversation Related to Task without Execution, prevailed at 8 and 12 years old. On the other hand, differences associated with the task were referred with codes of higher social coordination. That is, the categories that not necessarily imply a distribution of functions on the basis of an oral agreement predominated in block construction task, as occurred in implicit cooperation and collaboration. In contrast, categories of verbal social regulation of roles (explicit cooperation or conversation related to task without execution) predominated in free drawing. Socioeconomic context influenced on fewer categories compared to the age group and task. The findings are discussed in terms of its developmental and contextual implications, and above all, in relation to the socio-behavioral level (regulated by verbalization) of collaborative interaction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rosario Institute of Research in Educational Sciences, National Scientific and Technical Research Council, 27 de febrero 210 bis, Rosario, Argentina, 2000

    Mariano A. Castellaro & Néstor D. Roselli

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  1. Mariano A. Castellaro
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  2. Néstor D. Roselli
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Correspondence to Mariano A. Castellaro.

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Mariano A. Castellaro. Rosario Institute of Research in Educational Sciences. National Scientific and Technical Research Council—Argentina. Address: 27 de febrero 210 bis, Rosario, Argentina (2000). Phone: +54-341-4821769 (extension 210). Cell phone: +54-341-6198904. E-mail: castellaro@irice-conicet.gov.ar

Néstor D. Roselli. Rosario Institute of Research in Educational Sciences. National Scientific and Technical Research Council—Argentina. Address: 27 de febrero 210 bis, Rosario, Argentina (2000). Phone: +54-341-4821769 (extension 210). E-mail: roselli@irice-conicet.gov.ar

Current themes of research:

Sociocognitive process related to learning and problem solving. Collaborative learning in formal educational settings. Sociocognitive conflict. Peer collaboration.

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Roselli, N. (1988). Interacción social y desarrollo del pensamiento formal. En G. Mugny & J. Pérez (Eds.), Psicología social del desarrollo cognitivo (pp. 211–224). Barcelona, España: Anthropos.

Roselli, N., Gimelli, L., & Hechen, M. (1995). Modalidades de interacción sociocognitiva en el aprendizaje de conocimientos en parejas. En P. Fernández Berrocal & M. A. Melero Zabal (Comps.), La interacción social en contextos educativos (pp. 137–165). Madrid, España: Siglo XXI.

Roselli, N. (2000). El mejoramiento de la interacción sociocognitiva mediante el desarrollo experimental de la cooperación auténtica. Interdisciplinaria, 16(2), 123–151.

Castellaro, M. y Roselli, N. (2012). La regulación cognitiva de la acción en una tarea de construcción colaborativa con bloques, en díadas de niños de entre ocho y doce años. Psicoperspectivas: Individuo y Sociedad, 11, 226 – 251.

Castellaro, M. y Dominino, M. (2011). El proceso colaborativo en niños de escolaridad inicial y primaria. Una revisión de trabajos empíricos. Revista Intercontinental de Psicología y Educación, 13, 121 – 145.

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Castellaro, M.A., Roselli, N.D. Peer collaboration in childhood according to age, socioeconomic context and task. Eur J Psychol Educ 30, 63–80 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-014-0228-3

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