Learning through teaching: Peer-mediated instruction in minimally invasive education

The current paper provides insight into the learning strategies adopted by children working at Minimally Invasive Education (MIE) Learning Stations. Previous research has clearly indicated the attainment of basic computer literacy by groups of young children in the age groups of 7–14 years. This learning takes place due to the emergence and development of group social processes, an aspect crucial for achieving basic computing skills. The paper describes the process of socially shared understanding and learning as being crucial to individual learning. It is to be noted that this approach of socially shared learning does not challenge the analysis of the individual level of processing; it maintains that individual learning is vital in any learning context, but insufficient to build the psychology of learning. MIE research is of the view that young children learn through interaction with others, particularly peers as it provides an important context for social and cognitive learning. For it is in this way that children make sense of their own experience and environment. Hence, schools are not the only privileged sites of learning. Introduction The pursuit of capturing the nuances of the learning process has been a continuous endeavour. What is learning and how it occurs in humans has taken a new meaning in the learning environment. Today, learning is no longer viewed as an internal or individualistic activity; rather, it has emerged as a social process incorporating multiple but distinguishable phases (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Levine & Moreland, 1991). Significantly, cognitive and social processes cannot be understood in isolation; rather, it is the essential aspects of one another that help determine any learning. Thus, Mead’s (1934) observation that social experience shapes a person’s interpretive processes, Dewey’s (1959) emphasis that learning is a collaborative reconstruction of experience and Vygotsky’s (1978) emphasis upon the mediational role of socially meaningful activity call attention to the cognitions about and in social phenomena. Further, research by British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 40 No 1 2009 5–22 doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2008.00863.x © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 Becta. Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. Minsky (1986), Rogoff (1990), Schrage (1990) and Resnick, Levine & Teasley (1991) focus our attention towards groups/communities of minds in interaction. Such pioneering and innovative works have value in today’s contemporary educational system where there is a shift in the learning paradigm. Traditional teacher-centred models are now being replaced by alternative models of instruction, such as learnercentred, constructivist, collaborative and the like. Here, the emphasis is upon supporting children as they learn in a particular context (Brown & Mankowski, 1993; Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1989; Cobb 1995; Pea, 1993). The present paper highlights the varied learning strategies employed by children while attaining basic computer literacy. The emergent discernible pattern of learning strategies adopted by groups of children is indicative of socially shared cognition. The interplay of the two salient aspects in learning processes are: (1) Cognitive inputs from the environment, and (2) social networking/collaboration. These two aspects have come to form the core concern of Minimally Invasive Education Learning Stations (MIE LS) paradigm, and have become the basis of learning and attaining basic computing skills. Even though the basic methodology of learning computing skills remains through social networking, the current paper highlights the emergent different learning patterns used by children while working in groups as opposed to working on their own. Emphasis is drawn towards the salience of the dual role of the group and individual efforts in attaining computer literacy. Background The Hole-in-the-wall experiment consists of providing computers to children in safe, public, locations such as a school playground. The computers were placed outdoors, usually mounted on walls and, hence, often referred to as “hole-in-the-wall.” The goal of these experiments is to try and establish a model of education that can reach the hundreds of millions of economically disadvantaged children in rural and urban settings (Mitra, 2003). MIE could be relevant for spreading universal literacy, e-literacy and education. The first experiment was conducted in 1999, when one PC was embedded in a wall facing a slum in New Delhi. This computer was easily accessible to the children living nearby. Further research (Mitra, 2000) indicated that “groups of children, when provided appropriate resources will attain computer literacy with minimum intervention.” MIE LS produce other changes in children’s social and educational achievements (Inamdar, 2004). Research findings at MIE LS report learning processes as located in the social context, that is, as peer-mediated instruction (Mitra & Rana, 2001). MIE has clearly established that, irrespective of background, children organise themselves into groups and are able to attain basic computer literacy (Dangwal et al, 2005; Inamdar, 2004; Mitra, 2003, 2004). Background of present study Experiments conducted over the last five years have established that children working at MIE LS are able to achieve basic computing skills (Mitra, 2003). “MIE is defined as a 6 British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 40 No 1 2009 © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 Becta. pedagogic method that uses the learning environment to generate an adequate level of motivation to induce learning in groups of children, with minimal, or no, intervention by a teacher.” (Mitra et al, 2005). MIE research has indicated the learning of basic computing by groups of children. This learning is located and positioned in the appearance and development of social group processes. The emergence of MIE groups of children is of salience because it has been noted that the group functions by imparting not only the impetus for learning but also provides the necessary structure in laying the foundation of ongoing learning. This collaborative effort of children has been termed as “social networking” (Mitra et al, 2005). Social networking is the process of linking, that is, the way a child connects with another to create, construct a network or social group that she or he can then comes to depend upon in order to obtain or acquire information, as and when she or he needs it. Research into the prevalent group dynamics of children working at MIE LS (research in progress) has revealed that children often approach either peers, younger and/or older brothers and/or sisters, acquaintances, anyone working on the computer at that given point in time, or at times, even a knowledgeable person–one who has some knowledge about computers. With time, the child working at the computer develops some rudimentary or a fairly structured network to ascertain information to learn computing skills. Thus, two salient aspects emerge: • A group of children organise themselves, such that the child learns and benefits from the group and the group also benefits from each child working at the LS. • Social networking then describes the process of connecting individuals via peers, friends, relatives, strangers and acquaintances. It goes on to become a person’s “personal network.” Thus, each child draws, as and when necessary, upon anyone from his or her social network to progress ahead in learning computing skills. The abovementioned processes are of importance as they aid each child in attaining basic computing literacy. Continuous interaction among the group of children is the basis of MIE learning. The basic strategies adopted by these groups of children while working in groups in comparison to while working alone at the computer reveals different learning methods. This validates Vygotsky’s (1978) contention that in order to understand the individual’s psychological development, one must study the system of social relations in which the person grows and develops. The significance and implications of the concept of the zone of proximal development as socially shared cognition is clearly visible at the MIE LS. Present study Objective Having understood that groups of children learn basic computing skills by organising themselves into groups, the next step was to enquire about the learning strategies adopted by these children. The query was “how does knowledge get transmitted, shared Learning through teaching: Peer-mediated instruction in MIE 7 © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 Becta. and/or acquired?” The present paper seeks to identify and study the composition and patterns of learning strategies engaged in by children while achieving computer literacy at MIE LS. Research site MIE experiments are located in urban slum and rural India. The findings of the present study are based on data collected over a 9-month research period from 17 sites across eight states in the country (Table 1). These learning stations range from the Himalayas to the tip of the Indian peninsula (North to South) and from the Rajasthan deserts to the Ganges Delta (West to East). A total number of 250 children (boys and girls) were selected for the study. The spread between the genders is more or less equal. In others words, the number of boys and girls in the study is more or less the same. These children are regular users of the learning stations. Their age ranges from 6 to 14 years; the average age being 10–11 years. A majority of these children study at the elementary school level (below grade 8). They come from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. They are typically Hindus, Muslims and Christians. The background of the parents is equally diverse, from daily wage labour to farmers, shop owners, auto-rickshaw drivers, working in cottage industries or in a government organisation, etc. Men are found to be more educated (eighth grade), while the women are mostly illiterate. (Mitra et al, 2005). Data source As part of the ongoing International Finance Corporation (IFC)-sponsored research, children at MIE LS underwent assessments on varied domains. A research consultant (RC) was appointed at each of the MIE LS sites. The RC’s task was to interact with the children visiting the kiosk, and hence, develop a working relationship with the children, and enabled assessments of such groups of children. The RC was hired 1 month prior to the opening of the MIE LS. The purpose was twofold: (1) to enable the RC to familiarise himself or herself with the village, and (2) most importantly, to build a rapport with the children such that they would accept the RC in their area of space. Table 1: Zone-wise break up Zone (no. of states) State/s South (2) Karnataka and Tamil Nadu North (3) Uttaranchal, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh East (1) West Bengal West (2) Rajasthan and Maharashtra 8 British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 40 No 1 2009 © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 Becta. One assessment given to the RC was the maintenance of a Daily Diary. Such an attempt allowed the RC to map the daily activities of the children visiting the MIE LS. The RC was required to be present at the MIE LS everyday for about 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. The period of data collection was spread over 9 months, resulting in a detailed account of the activities at MIE LS. The close interaction between RC and children helped understand and study the varied features involved in the learning process. Based upon the daily observations and interaction with the children, the RC filed the Daily Report on the following issues—number of children at the LS, their names and gender, nature of the children’s interaction, which children were working together in a group, or was a given child working on his or her own. Further, the RC also periodically asked the children details of the activity or activities they did on that day, what new aspect they had learnt during the course of their visit to the LS, how did they perform that activity, from whom they had learnt it and to whom did they teach it to. Data for the current paper is based upon the Daily Diary maintained by the RC, a sample of which is given below. Typically, the RC was at the LS from the time it was opened to the time it was closed (Table 2). Methodology The contents of the Daily Diary were examined to identify the following two aspects: • Identification of learning methods adopted by the children at the LS when working in groups in comparison to while working independently at the LS. Table 2: Sample daily observation report Names of children Application Time spent/ application Remarks Boys WordPad 30 minutes Lokesha went to Start + Program + Accessories + Word pad + Enter key. He opened WordPad. First he went to font and clicked over it and selected 36 size. He then typed his name and selected it by dragging over it. Next he went to bold option and clicked it. He told me that he clicked over B to get his name in bold, and that he has learned this by himself. Then he went to Italic and told me that he pressed over I to get his name in slanted letters. He pressed backspace to delete his name. Again he typed his address. This time changed font and color as well. He selected red color for his name. Then he typed his friend’s name and used different colors. He pressed enter key to start a new paragraph and space bar to maintain the gap between the words. After that he went to file option and saved the file in the name of Lokesh. Then he closed the word pad by pressing over close option. Kiran