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AbstractPrevious studies suggest that group work would yield conceptual gains in physics if tasks specifically promoted dialogue about the factors which determine observed outcomes. This might be done by constraining task items to present critical tests of the effects of individual factors; and, additionally, by requiring participants to generate or select explicit rules about those effects. In order to test this hypothesis, groups of primary school children were asked to work on one of four versions of a task concerning object flotation: Random (i.e. a control in which there were no task constraints), Critical Tests, Rule Generation, and Rule Selection. Learning was assessed via change between a pre‐test and two post‐tests. Although the effect was delayed, children from the Random and Rule Generation conditions showed an increased awareness of relevant factors which was strongly related to prior group activity. This gain was absent in the Critical Tests and Rule Selection conditions. The results indicate that group dialogue can be productively shaped by task design, but also that its effects may take time to appear, and are negated by overmuch external direction of attention.

This paper reports a two year longitudinal study of the effects of cooperative learning on science attainment, attitudes towards science and social connectedness during transition from primary to high school. A previous project on cooperative learning in primary schools observed gains in science understanding and in social aspects of school life. This project followed 204 children involved in the previous project and 440 comparison children who were not as they undertook transition from 24 primary to 16 high schools. Cognitive, affective and social gains observed in the original project survived transition. The implications improving the effectiveness of school transition by using cooperative learning initiatives are explored. Possibilities for future research and the implications for practice and policy are discussed.

AbstractLongitudinal research can assess how diverging development of multiple cognitive skills during infancy, as well as familial background, are related to the emergence of neurodevelopmental conditions. Sensorimotor and effortful control difficulties are seen in infants later diagnosed with autism; this study explored the relationships between these skills and autism characteristics in 340 infants (240 with elevated familial autism likelihood) assessed at 4–7, 8–10, 12–15, 24, and 36 months. We tested: (1) the relationship between parent‐reported effortful control (Rothbart's temperament questionnaires) and sensorimotor skills (Mullen Scales of Early Learning), using random intercept cross‐lagged panel modelling; (2) whether household income and maternal education predicted stable individual differences in cognition; (3) sensorimotor and effortful control skills as individual and interactive predictors of parent‐reported autism characteristics (Social Responsiveness Scale) at 3 years, using multiple regression; and (4) moderation of interactions by familial likelihood. Sensorimotor skills were longitudinally associated with effortful control at the subsequent measurement point from 12–15 months. Socioeconomic status indicators did not predict stable between‐infant differences in sensorimotor or effortful control skills. Effortful control skills were longitudinally related to 3‐year autism characteristics from the first year of life, with evidence for an interaction with sensorimotor skills at 24 months. Effects of effortful control increased with age and were particularly important for infants with family histories of autism. Results are discussed in relation to different theoretical frameworks: Developmental Cascades and Anterior Modifiers in the Emergence of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. We suggest a role for 24‐month effortful control in explaining the emergent autism phenotype.Research Highlights
Sensorimotor skills longitudinally predicted effortful control from 12–15 months onward but effortful control did not longitudinally predict sensorimotor skills during infancy.
Measures of effortful control skills taken before the age of 1 predicted continuous variation in autism characteristics at 36 months, with associations increasing in strength with age.
Effortful control (measured at 12–15 and 24 months) was a stronger predictor of 36‐month autism characteristics in infants with elevated familial likelihood for autism.
The relationship between 24‐month sensorimotor skills and 36‐month autism characteristics was stronger in infants with weaker effortful control skills.