Social Processes and Knowledge Building During Small Group Interaction in a School Science Project

The aim of this study was to investigate the meaning of symmetry of knowledge-based roles for knowledge construction and sharing in social interaction during the report writing phase of an experimental science learning project. A group of four 9th grade students in a Finnish comprehensive school (15-16-year-olds) participated in a project involving laboratory experiments, reading literature and analysing and reporting research findings. The empirical data were collected through videotaping and interviews in authentic classroom settings. In the data four patterns of interaction were identified, which differed in terms of their symmetry of knowledge-based roles and nature of the talk. The context of high level collaboration was realized in the framework of joint critical knowledge building, where students had equal knowledge-based roles and close relationships. The discussion was, however, mostly uncritical in its nature, partly due to the evident social inconvenience between some group members.