Strategy 2: Setting Clear Expectations

Clear expectations help set students up for successful collaboration (Cohen 1994). When students understand both the purpose of their collaborative work and the recommended procedures to begin their work, it is easier for them to coordinate their efforts.

Before releasing students to engage in collaborative work, the teacher would review her expectations. For example, before students built their initial toy, the teacher reminded them that their overall goal was to design fun moving toys that other kids could build. She also reviewed procedures such as where to find online instructions, where to gather materials, and what to do if they got stuck. By consistently making both the goal and the procedures clear, the teacher supported most students to begin work efficiently and focus on science ideas. This did not eliminate off-task behaviors, distractions, or confusion, but it did minimize them, freeing the teacher’s attention for checking in with partners who needed some extra support.

Strategy 3: “Making the Rounds”

Teacher support during work time plays a key a role in supporting successful collaboration (Cervetti, DiPardo, and Staley 2014). By joining collaborative conversations between students, teachers can provide timely conceptual, procedural, or interpersonal support.

The teacher circulated throughout the collaborative work time. Often, within the space of less than 20 minutes, she would find time to check in with most or all collaborating partners. Her check-ins were usually short and focused and often included supporting students to help each other. If the partnership was having trouble collaborating, the teacher would offer some on-the-spot coaching in collaborative techniques. If the students were struggling with the work itself, the teacher would often bring in another student to help. For example, when both members of a partnership seemed unsure how to model the forces acting on their toy, the teacher called over another student to assist. She watched for a short period to make sure the mentor student was helping without taking over, then moved on to support other groups.

Strategy 4: Class Conversations

Whole-class conversations can be crucial to improving the quality of peer collaboration (Tasker and Herrenkohl 2016). They provide students the opportunity to engage in guided reflection regarding successes and areas for potential improvement.

After collaborative work time was finished, the teacher would typically call students to the rug for a conversation. Often, this conversation would involve workshopping whatever the partners had written and/or drawn in their science notebooks. For example, one day the teacher invited students to share written models they had created to answer the question “What causes your toy to start to move?” The teacher projected one student’s model and invited the class to share compliments and feedback. As a result of this conversation, the author of the model decided to add several new components to his model. Throughout the conversation, the teacher explicitly highlighted the importance of giving feedback respectfully. She was also careful to point out that the publicly shared feedback might also apply to each partnerships’ individual model.

This class conversation, and others like it, served multiple functions. First, they gave students a chance to see and learn from each other’s work. Second, they gave students a structured chance to practice giving each other useful and respectful feedback.

Strategy 5: Mediating Conflict

Conflict can arise when students work collaboratively. This conflict can have a big impact on how students experience collaboration and what learning opportunities collaboration can provide (Cohen 1994; Kurth, Anderson, and Palincsar 2002).

When mediating student conflicts, the teacher balanced two goals. First, she made sure that each student was respected and heard. Second, she gave students the responsibility for coming up with their own solutions. Typically, the teacher would begin the mediation by creating a space for each student to speak. The teacher would prevent interruptions and remind each student that “they would get their turn, too.” After each student had a chance to speak, the teacher would invite the students to propose a solution. If students could not agree on a solution, the teacher would ask if they would prefer to work separately for a while. Typically, students did not wish to work separately and would be motivated to agree on a solution so that they could continue to work together. In some cases, students did wish to take a break from collaboration, and the teacher would allow them to do so.

The teacher’s approach allowed her to create a safe space for students to problem-solve, while still leaving the important work of problem-solving in the hands of the students.

Facilitating Collaboration to Support All Students

It is of the utmost importance to support all students during peer collaboration, including students with special needs and English language learners. To support all learners, key ideas need to be presented at multiple times and in multiple ways. Furthermore, students need to be given different types of opportunities to demonstrate what they have learned (Capp 2017). Throughout the unit the classroom teacher was attentive to creating many ways for students to receive and share information.

Before each collaborative work session, the teacher facilitated a conceptually oriented review discussion. Later, while circulating among collaborating students, she would individually check in with ELLs and students with special needs and ask them to explain their work in their own words. She would then provide additional support if needed.

The teacher also used these check-ins to invite students to share specific ideas during the post-collaboration debrief. For example, she might say something like, “Wow! You’ve thought a lot about how balanced forces make your toy move. If I call on you during our discussion, will you share your ideas with the class?” These pre-invitations gave students lead time to think about what they wanted to say and had the overall effect of increasing the participation of ELLs and students with special needs in whole-class discussions. For students who still hesitated to participate in whole-class discussion, the teacher might differentiate by providing:

• An extra generous amount of wait time
• Sentence stems for students to complete
• The opportunity to first whisper their idea to the teacher and then have the teacher repeat their idea to the class
• Other ways that the teacher supported students with special needs and ELLs to engage in successful collaboration included:
• Carefully choosing their partners and teaching their partners to provide support without taking over
• Encouraging students to express ideas through both drawing and writing
• Coordinating with other support staff, such as the ESL or speech teachers, to give students extra practice discussing key science concepts from their collaborative explorations

Evidence of Successful Collaboration

One of the hallmarks of successful collaboration is that, over time, students will begin to take up new collaborative dispositions and skills (Mercer et al. 2004). Over the course of several months, during which the teacher consistently used the facilitation strategies described above, the teacher observed multiple indicators of improved collaboration. These included:

• Collaborating students spent more time on task.
• There were fewer disputes between partners.
• Partners engaged more with each other’s ideas, e.g., by asking follow-up questions or saying “I hadn’t thought of that!”
• Students began to request to collaborate in other subject areas.

However, the teacher also shared two caveats. First, success brought its own challenges. There were fewer passive/disengaged partners, but increased engagement could lead to more struggles for control, as each partner wanted to do things “their way.” Second, while collaboration generally improved over time, there were times when the class “relapsed” following unexpected snow days or the first warm days of spring. This meant that the teacher was never “finished” supporting collaboration. She re-taught specific collaborative skills as needed, while encouraging her students to notice and take pride in their improved collaboration.

Classrooms Where Collaboration Blooms

The goal of students collaboratively engaged in long-term inquiry centered on real-world questions is a laudable one; actually beginning such work in the elementary science classroom can be daunting. It is often easier to have a calm, controlled, and respectful classroom when all the students are sitting in neat rows, copying down notes that the teacher has written on the board. When students are given the freedom to work together, even in structured ways, opportunities to be off-task or unkind can multiply. And yet, to support the next generation of scientists, we need to provide students with opportunities to work together with other people, to manage projects that last beyond the space of a class period, to identify questions and work on discovering answers. Long-term collaborative science inquiry provides learning opportunities that just can’t be replicated in a teacher-centered, silent classroom.

Research-based strategies such as those exemplified in the above vignettes can help support long-term collaborative inquiry in the science classroom, providing opportunities for students to respectfully learn from each other and take charge of their own work. This growth is not going to happen in one lesson; it’s not even going to happen in one unit. It’s going to build throughout the year—and it will be different one year to the next. Although the process is never easy, there is no doubt it is worthwhile.