This study addressed computer-supported collaborative scientific inquiries in remote networked schools (Quebec, Canada). Three dyads of Grade 5-6 classrooms from remote locations across the province collaborated using the knowledge-building tool Knowledge Forum. Customized scaffold supports embedded in the online tool were used to support student…

This action research reports on a three-year collaborative learning process among three teachers. We used current literature and a critical reflection framework to understand why our teaching approaches were not resulting in increased student learning. This allowed us to examine our previously unrecognized and uninterrupted--and often,…

With respect to cooperative learning, one aspect of particular interest to educators is its inclusive nature in terms of ensuring that all team members in group work are more or less equally involved in the task. Despite the inherent relevance for second language teaching, however, research is scant. To contribute to this area, the present study…

There has been a longstanding assumption that gifted, high-ability, or high-performing students prefer working alone; however, this may not be true in every case. The current study expanded on this assumption to reveal more nuanced learning preferences of these students. Sixty-nine high-performing and community-school students in Grades 5 and 6…

Pedagogical shifts favouring collaborative learning and findings of recent studies have raised concerns regarding the claim that gifted students prefer to learn alone. The purpose of this study was to further investigate if, when and how high ability learners want to work with or without others. The distributions of 416 high ability students (n =…

Written collaboratively by two former teaching partners, this paper details the journey taken by a team of teachers from a large southern Ontario school board as they completed an action research project during the 2008-2009 school year, in conjunction with ETFO and their Teachers Learning Together: A Math Journey initiative. This paper will…

A study in a grade 6-7 Canadian elementary class identified three "spaces of inquiry" that encourage student participation in school science: generative spaces for brainstorming and collaboration; rehearsal spaces for presentation of ideas to the class for refinement; and performative spaces for presentation of finished creations to, and…

The problem addressed in the study was whether 10- and 11-year-old children, collaborating within a computer-supported classroom, could engage in progressive inquiry that exhibits an essential principal feature of mature scientific inquiry: namely, engagement in increasingly deep levels of explanation. Technical infrastructure for the study was…