In this study, interaction patterns in peer small-group discussions with cognitive conflict strategy (CCS) and those with social consensus strategy (SCS) were compared. Verbal interactions of four small groups (16 students) in learning science concept...
In this study, interaction patterns in peer small-group discussions with cognitive conflict strategy (CCS) and those with social consensus strategy (SCS) were compared. Verbal interactions of four small groups (16 students) in learning science concepts were analyzed at the levels of turns, interaction units, and episodes. The frequencies of total turns and knowledge construction turns per discussion for the SCS group were higher than those for the CCS group. Comparing and evaluating hypotheses and discussion worksheets provided were especially effective in increasing metacognitive utterances of the SCS group students. The frequencies of `most students participating mode`, `elaborative interaction mode`, and `exploratory episode` for the SCS group were higher than those for the CCS group. These suggested that more students in the SCS group participated in small-group discussions and their discussions were more interactive and elaborative. The interactions and episodes of the SCS group were also superior in quality to those of the CCS group.