Investigating patterns of student engagement during collaborative activities in undergraduate chemistry courses

Abstract

Several studies have highlighted the positive effects that active learning may have on student engagement and performance. However, the influence of active learning strategies is mediated by several factors, including the nature of the learning environment and the cognitive level of in-class tasks. These factors can affect different dimensions of student engagement such as the nature of social processing in student groups, how knowledge is used and elaborated upon by students during in-class tasks, and the amount of student participation in group activities. In this study involving four universities in the US, we explored the association between these different dimensions of student engagement and the cognitive level of assigned tasks in five distinct general chemistry learning environments where students were engaged in group activities in diverse ways. Our analysis revealed a significant association between task level and student engagement. Retrieval tasks often led to a significantly higher number of instances of no interaction between students and individualistic work, and a lower number of knowledge construction and collaborative episodes with full student participation. Analysis tasks, on the other hand, were significantly linked to more instances of knowledge construction and collaboration with full group participation. Tasks at the comprehension level were distinctive in their association with more instances of knowledge application and multiple types of social processing. The results of our study suggest that other factors such as the nature of the curriculum, task timing, and class setting may also affect student engagement during group work.

Characterizing students’ peer–peer questions: frequency, nature, responses and learning

“…Peer-to-peer questions during groupwork is a form of student interaction and engagement (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, and Paris, 2004). Our study adds to recent research in chemistry education on student engagement during collaborative activities which identified behavioral, cognitive, and emotional dimensions of engagement (Naibert et al, 2022) and the association between the dimensions of student engagement and the cognitive level of assigned tasks (Reid et al, 2022).…”

“…As noted above, factors such as course expectations, the nature of the task that students complete, students' prior experiences, the cognitive levels of assigned tasks, and existing norms in the classroom can all affect the process and outcome of in-class collaborative activities (Reid et al, 2022;Warfa et al, 2018;Zagallo et al, 2016;Becker et al, 2013). In the context of asking questions, instructors can design activities that encourage students to pose certain types of questions, such as those of a certain cognitive complexity (Chin and Osborne, 2008;Kastens, Zrada and Turrin, 2020).…”

“…This study builds on and contributes to existing research on the processes and outcomes of student collaborative work in active learning classrooms, recognizing that such environments enable students to interact with each other as they work towards a shared goal. Examples of these research studies include the ways of student reasoning that constitute chemistry classroom practice (Cole et al, 2012), development of sociochemical norms (Becker et al, 2013), nature of chemical reasoning manifested during argumentation (Moon et al, 2017), influence of group dialogue on student understanding of science concepts (Warfa et al, 2018), social metacognition in small-group problem solving (Halmo et al, 2022), patterns of student engagement during collaborative activities (Reid et al, 2022), and student perceptions of behavioral, cognitive and emotional engagement (Naibert et al, 2022). Interestingly, asking questions, which is the subject of our study, was identified as a form of behavioral engagement in the Naibert et al (2022) study.…”

Advanced Technique-Based Combination of Innovation Education and Safety Education in Higher Education

“…Thus, it is a good model to be selected as an advanced technique for conducting laboratory education. Education of laboratory practices based on a new technique (e.g., paper microfluidic technology) not only can train the students’ process skills , but also can strengthen their collaborative and scientific humanistic spirit. , Furthermore, an effective combination of classroom education with the related laboratory practices can provide a review on the knowledge learned in class, cultivate the innovative consciousness of integrating theory with practice, and promote integrated multidimensional learning. , In this study, the laboratory practice and safety education associated with electrospinning is exhibited, which is aimed to (1) deepen and broaden the students’ fundamental knowledge about electrospinning learned in the classroom courses; (2) cultivate students’ practical skills and the relevant safety awareness; and (3) explain those innovations on electrospinning systems that resulted from the considerations of safe implementations for fostering the students’ innovation consciousness and innovation ability. The assessments on the goal achievement were conducted according to students’ usual performances (two of the seven times were in laboratory) and the final test scores.…”

Exploring social and cognitive engagement in small groups through a community of learners (CoL) lens

“…However, the complex nature of the learning environment in large collaborative college chemistry courses makes it challenging to identify the different factors that affect students' cognitive and social engagement while working on in-class tasks. To provide insights into this area, in a recent study we explored student engagement in different learning environments that fostered students' active participation in various types of classroom activities (Reid et al, 2022). We were particularly interested in characterizing how the cognitive level of these tasks (e.g., retrieval, comprehension, analysis) correlated with how knowledge was shared, used, or constructed during collaborative activity (knowledge dynamics) and with the social relationships and types of participation (social processing) in student groups.…”