Transfer of emergent leadership from collaborative discussions to collaborative problem solving

Abstract

Transfer of learning has been an important goal of teaching. Most research studies have focused on the transfer of content knowledge; however, do children transfer the social skills they have learned from one group activity to another? By using the approach of Collaborative Reasoning (CR) discussion and Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS), this study examined the transfer of children’s emergent leadership skills across these two different group activities. 252 students from 4 fifth grade classes in Mideast China took part in this study. Analysis of pre and post surveys, and videotapes of 8 groups’ CPS revealed that, as compared to students who received no CR discussions, students who experienced CR discussions initiated more effective leadership moves in the CPS activity. Furthermore, CR students had much more positive feeling and higher evaluation of collaboration in their comments about the discussions than control students; they were also more confident in sharing their thoughts in the CPS activity.