The Discursive Construction of Group Cohesion in Problem-based Learning Tutorials

Abstract

Gillian Hendry is a PhD researcher at the University of Strathclyde, whose research interests lie in the field of qualitative and social psychology. Her on-going PhD project is focused on investigating interaction in student groups; using discursive psychology to analyse how teasing is constructed as a pro-social act.Dr Sally Wiggins is a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Strathclyde. Her research interests focus on discursive practices in everyday interaction, particularly on the social construction of eating processes such as appetite and food preferences. Her teaching interests are in problembased learning and group-based processes of learning, and she teaches qualitative research methods and social psychology.Dr Tony Anderson has long-standing research interests in language understanding within a dialogue context, and also peer interaction and learning, including the learning of skills such as critical thinking skills. His teaching activities focus on Cognition and Artificial Intelligence. AbstractSubmission to special issue: "Problem-based learning (PBL) and psychology" Author pre-print version 2Research has shown that educators may be reluctant to implement group work in their teaching due to concerns about students partaking in off-task behaviours (Alley, 2005). However, such off-task interactions have been shown to promote motivation, trust, and rapport-building (e.g. Bickmore, 2003). This paper details a study in which student groups were video recorded as they engaged in problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials, with the aim of examining the detail of social interaction within such settings. Eighty-five hours of data were collected from nine groups across two UK universities, with discursive psychology being used to analyse how group cohesion is constructed through off-topic talk such as gossiping and teasing. Two case studies are detailed in which we demonstrate how cohesion is established through a process of collective action against the 'other':highlighting the differences between "us" and "them", and how this can impact on group dynamics therein. There is often a discrepancy between self-reported and observed behaviour in groups and so the more we know about what actually happens in such environments, the better placed we are to support student learning. The paper concludes with recommendations on how analyses of social interaction and the management of psychological issues in PBL tutorials can inform the use of PBL as a teaching and learning approach.

Knowledge disagreement formulations in problem-based learning tutorials: balancing pedagogical demands with ‘saving face’

“…For instance, rather than explicitly disagreeing with Paul, note how she engages with the PBL worksheet ("what do they say") as a prompt for their collaborative action (Day & Wagner, 2014); explored in more depth later in the analysis. Furthermore, upon Paul's continued justification of his stance ("not reacting at all", 10), Megan's use of humour ("never know with the gases£", line 11) deflects from their misaligned views, and whilst they do not reach agreement, Paul shares in this laughter (line 12) which lightens the potential seriousness of the situation (Hendry, Wiggins & Anderson, 2016).…”

Civil Engineering 4 Real (CE4R): co-curricular learning for undergraduates

“…the newfound learner autonomy it places upon its students) may raise some discomfort among novice PBL tutors (e.g. the fear that students will become distracted from their group work as a result of engaging in irrelevant or off-topic discussions during the PBL sessions) amongst academics who are more accustomed to didactic methods (Hendry, Wiggins & Anderson, 2016). This can lead to premature or overly direct interventions made by inexperienced PBL tutors, which can be highly detrimental to students' own collaborative efforts (Aarnio, Lindblom-Ylänne, Nieminen & Pyörälä, 2013).…”

Examining self-managed problem-based learning interactions in engineering education

“…Studies have shown how students more successfully meet their learning objectives through the use of PBL, but still rate this approach as secondary to standard lectures, as though they have been short-changed (Warnock and Mohammadi-Aragh 2016;Yadav, Subedi, Lundeberg, and Bunting, 2011). While the educational freedom brought by PBL may be a daunting one for teaching staff (Hendry, Wiggins, and Anderson 2016), it is this very lack of trust which fosters the 'needy' student. Instead, the willingness of educators as enablers of PBL lie at the core of its success (Azer 2005), and it is critical, therefore, that PBL is adopted from the very initial phases of the undergraduate degree.…”

“…Here, Sam demonstrates that, whilst his own efforts were not as poorly received as his peers' ("wasn't CRAP crap"), his tutor feedback is by no means impressive ("°it wasn't great°"). This is a vulnerable point in the interaction for Sam, as he cannot ignore the blatant disparities in critique -this would impair the authenticity of his discourse -but must downplay this unavoidable superiority, or face potential ostracism from the group (Hendry, Wiggins, and Anderson 2016).…”

“…Annie's repeated topic initiators demonstrate her fight for discursive space, and this self-imposed leadership is troublesome when all students should be on equal par with one another (especially in floating facilitator PBL, as shown in the aforementioned analyses). Instead, it seems that these points of off-topic transition must be very delicately negotiated, as this chat serves a cohesive function which is especially important amongst student-led groups (Hendry, Wiggins, and Anderson 2016).…”