Collaborative learning is beneficial or detrimental depending on individual and situational factors¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2015 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Whether students learn more effectively individually or in groups depends on factors such as student characteristics and the type of activities students are engaged in. → Andrew C. Butler & Shana K. Carpenter 2015

Evidence¶

Andrew C. Butler & Shana K. Carpenter 2015¶

Andrew C. Butler & Shana K. Carpenter. (2015). Separating Myth from Reality in Education: Introduction to the Special Issue. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-015-9344-0

q2 · i? · review · r2

The editorial reports, citing Nokes-Malach et al. (2015), that despite the popular appeal of students working together, the review identifies "several individual and situational factors" that influence whether individual or group work is more effective.

"their review of the evidence suggests that collaborative learning can be both beneficial and detrimental depending on the circumstances"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Snapshots of critical steps were marginally beneficial for individual learners but significantly detrimental for dyads — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Collaborative tasks should be complex enough that joint effort is worthwhile, engaging the collective working memory effect — related
• Collaboration facilitates learning only under specific knowledge and experience conditions; with advanced learners it can be detrimental via the expertise reversal effect — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Collaborating learners learn more effectively and efficiently than individual learners on cognitively challenging tasks, but group work becomes disadvantageous on cognitively unchallenging tasks — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Unrecognised prior-knowledge asymmetry and absent prior group experience negatively affect learning in complex collaborative tasks — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Groups outperform individuals when devising creative solutions to real-world complex problems — related
• Static expert-solution feedback had detrimental effects on the learning process when pre-service teachers worked in dyads — a narrower finding that bears on this claim