Group Skill Usage: The Accuracy and Impact of Self-Assessment and Feedback

Abstract

A group activity in a school has two aims: i) the participants gain domain knowledge or skills, and ii) the participants develop the skills needed to work in a team. These group skills, such as listening, taking turns, providing justification, are not instinctive and often cannot be accurately assessed by children. However, if used they improve the task performance and individual understanding. The CSCL system described raises awareness of actual and appropriate behaviour by reminding and scaffolding children aged 9 and 10 about group skills while performing a group activity. The system was based on existing training schemes, including procedural prompting, assigning roles, modelling exchanges, and giving feedback. This feedback, based on self-assessments, was found to correlate with the opinion of teachers observing the group activities. It was also found the majority of children who improved in group skill usage became more consistent when analysing their own behaviour in group activities.