Development Of Socio-Emotional Competence Through Collaborative Learning In Primary School

Abstract

The classroom should feel like a family and every student can fulfill his potential. Collaboration strategies can be powerful tools for teachers in order for them to facilitate an atmosphere of trust and a sense of belonging. Through cooperation children can learn about themselves and about other as well. They can learn to work together to find solutions to problems or to discuss other topics of interest. Collaborative learning refers to situations when learning occurs in classroom groups or pairs. There are many benefits to collaborative learning that include: developing oral communication, self-management, student-student interactions, understanding diverse perspectives of society. The teacher has to navigate with confidence when addressing problems of logistics and infrastructure in the classroom or school. Addressing the problem correctly and honestly teachers can find that collaborative learning has always been happening in their classrooms and maybe even in their schools. Students have a tendency to work together and try to solve their tasks during a school day. Teachers need to develop a more meaningful approach when it comes to creating a collaborative environment where the pieces of the learning process are fit together and the results are relevant to students’ learning experience. This paper focuses on the approaches, resources and tools needed to create a classroom where the students can have a collaborative learning experience which helps them achieve their potential.

Keywords: Socio-emotional competencecollaborative learninggroup worklearning activitiesclassroom resourcesprimary school

Introduction

School is an environment in which the child spends most of the time (with the introduction of the After-School program in Romania) and it constitutes a framework in which both children and adults are studying and socializing. The environment that the school offers for the development of a small school child is a framework in which it manages to develop harmoniously by acquiring information to work with basic notions (math, reading and writing), but also with elements related to social-emotional development - form and sustain positive relationships, experience, manage and express emotions, explore and engage with the environment. For healthy emotional development, the child must have previously acquired skills such as self-esteem, self-confidence, curiosity, motivation, perseverance, and self-control. These abilities develop in the context of a balanced family where the child develops in harmony, the relationship between child and parent being an important aspect in his development. The results of the studies conducted by Lozada and Halberstadt (2015) show that emotional competence is closely related to social competence, this connection being conceptualized with the help of the phrase "affective-social competence" (Schaffer, 2010).

Social and emotional learning is a way for children to develop skills, attitudes and behaviours that help them cope effectively and ethically in their daily challenges. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL, 2017) is a framework that has at it’s core the development of intrapersonal, interpersonal and cognitive competence. The five core competences that are being taught in concern with CASEL are:

• Self-awareness – the child can listen to his feelings, thoughts and actions

• Self-management – making responsible choices, communicating clearly

• Social awareness – understanding social and ethical norms

• Relationship skills – establishing and maintaining healthy relationships

• Responsible decision making – making constructive choices in concern to personal and social interactions

The awareness for these competences has been a focus for educators and policymakers. The new curriculum based on competence has made a long transformation since its predecessor that was based solely on object learning. The role of the teacher has known a redefining step as to establish new views on teachings: instruction has become learning, exterior learning was replaced by individual learning, iconic learning transformed into meaningful learning. Planning for lessons in this context offers opportunities for implementation of new teaching directions and creates an environment for diversity of methods for teaching. This new planning has principles (Wiesner, 2013) that have to be implemented in order for meaningful learning to occur:

• Individual learning oriented teaching

• To be in accordance with the new teaching evolution of methods

• Diversity in method – cooperative and collaborative learning – project based learning, problem solving, brainstorming, cooperation learning

• Using the new information technologies

Literature Review

The benefits of collaborative learning have been researched for more then fifty years with the implementation of the long term research developed by Johnson and Johnson (1999). Collaborative learning has a different approach than teacher-centred in the classic classroom (Laal & Laal, 2012). When taking into consideration a collaborative classroom the settings are different than in your average classroom important elements stands out – active work and discussion. Working in teams has the power to generate trust among the group and a sense of belonging and responsibility. In this sense building social and emotional connections with their peers has a more meaningful aspect. Relevant to this type of classroom are the interactions that occur between pupil-pupil and teacher-pupil (Hernández-Sellés, Muñoz-Carril, & González-Sanmamed, 2019).

Johnson & Johnson (1999) based on their research have identified five basic elements that have to be used for a situation to be cooperative:

• Positive Interdependence – it relies on pupils working together to maximize the learning of all members of the group through shared resources, providing mutual support, and celebrating their joint success.

• Individual accountability - exists as long as the teacher is able to give individual feedback and also group feedback is shared to the group.

• Promotive interaction – achieving goals through common efforts and supporting of one another in order to complete tasks.

• Social Skills – how well pupils engage in targeted social skills must be shared individually with each pupil for it to be effective.

• Group processing – giving feedback on helpful and unhelpful actions among the group members at the end of the studying session proves to be effective and stating the decisions to continue the project.

Collaborative learning was more effective in attaining results than competitive and individualistic approaches (see table 1 ).

Putting effort into cooperative and collaborative approaches give better result than competitive and individualistic ones and these results create opportunities for positive interpersonal relationships and greater psychological health (Johnson & Johnson, 1999). Working collectively to reach and complete goals requires pupils to seek opportunities for practice and reflection on their social and emotional competencies along with their academic development. Thoughts become actions and the results of those actions influence how children think and interpret the reality (Manea, 2014). Making responsible decisions creates a framework for new ides and skill development along with building relationships with colleagues and teachers (VanAusdal, 2019).

There are certain mechanisms that contribute to a successful collaborative learning environment. Nokes-Malach, Zepeda, Richey, and Gadgil (2019) have addressed these mechanisms and drawn on two types of factors – cognitive factors and social factors:

• Cognitive factors

  • complementary knowledge – combined knowledge benefits the group

  • cross-cuing – recalling information by one member of the group and shares it for the whole group

  • re-exposure – recalling in a group creates a chance for an information to be recalled by other members of the group

  • error-correction – gives an opportunity for critique and inquiry

• Social factors

  • joint management of attention – sharing attention

  • the construction of common ground – group understating benefits the collaboration learning process

  • the negotiating of multiple perspectives – creating opportunities for new information to be shared to all the members of the group.

Teachers have to understand the settings of the classroom as a whole and to be able to build on the curriculum using meaningful approaches. There are certain skills that are useful in these new situations of learning: understanding the nature of positive interdependence, individual accountability, promotive interaction, social skills, and group processing, and to develop skills in structuring them

Research Method

The current paper recounts the collaborative situations of a classroom of 24 children from the preparatory grade until the fourth grade – their graduation from primary school. The method used by the teacher to assess the development of the children through collaborative learning was the feedback of parents and also the children, along with teacher’s assessment thought-out the years

Analyses and Findings

The celebration of the fourth grade at the end of the year proved to be an opportunity for children to use their skills acquired in their previous years. All the children had either individual projects or group project at their choosing. The tools used by the children varied and were in accordance with their ultimate goal. The project managed to give the children the opportunity for expression and learning experiences for being better with each other and be more careful about what is happening around them.

Conclusion

Collaborative learning has proved to be a useful tool along the teaching years in the classroom. Children are provided with learning opportunities and are able to develop skills necessary for the XXI century. Giving a voice to children and allowing them to organise themselves but being in constant control can have a deep impact on their perception of general requirements in life and also the challenges that are so present. Changing the roles of children in the group benefits the child and the group as well and give a perspective of different roles that the children can have and can also find the things that they are good at in school life and in general.

Together, the children and the teacher will be able to find the best solutions to the challenges that arise in a collaborative classroom. The projects should be diverse, the participants being always challenged in listening and being listened to. Collaborations should always have a focus on current themes in relation to what is happening in pupils' lives and together with them the results should be synthesize in the most effective way for solutions to be discovered and applied properly.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the children and parents from the classroom for their constant care, dedication and enthusiasm for these projects.

References

• CASEL (2017) CASEL guide to schoolwide SEL: Using interactive pedagogy. Retrieved from https://schoolguide.casel.org/focus-area-3/classroom/a-supportive-classroom-environment/
• Hernández-Sellés, N., Muñoz-Carril, P., & González-Sanmamed, M. (2019). Computer-supported collaborative learning: An analysis of the relationship between interaction, emotional support and online collaborative tools. Computers & Education, 138, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.04.012
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