Classroom Interactions between Students

Students can interact during whole-class discussions (when students respond to one another, in cross-discussions), pair/small group work, student presentations' question and answer sessions. While student and teacher responsibilities differ across these activities, students typically address a complex problem, propose ideas, question them, evaluate them, implement them, and reflect on them. During these student interactions, they can improve their learning and social processes, as well as their outcomes. Still, students will face difficulties during these interactions, which teachers must address. To initiate these classroom interactions among students, a teacher asks a complex question/problem, often with many answers or solution methods. Ideally, a single [Page 126]student cannot solve the problem, but students can collaborate to solve it (a zone of proximal development problem).

Students can benefit from group ...