The transactive interaction patterns in middle school students' collaborative-based critical thinking processes aligned with social studies

Collaborative-based learning (CBL) has established itself as a respected pedagogical approach in nearly every education system. The success or full potential of such small-group practices largely depends on transactive interactions, which are characterized by both social and cognitive dimensions. This study, grounded in a qualitative methodology and designed as a case study, aims to examine the social and cognitive interaction processes and related experiences of 28 fifth-grade middle school students. These students were assigned to seven collaborative groups and guided to work together on critical thinking tasks aligned with the social studies course. These students were guided to work cooperatively on cognitive tasks related to critical thinking within the context of the social studies curriculum. According to the research procedure, cognitive tasks were developed through a three-phase preliminary process. An implementation model was designed for these tasks, and the activities were conducted in accordance with this model. Data were collected through participants’ self-reports (self-assessments, peer assessments, interviews) and the researcher’s observation reports during the preparation, orientation, pilot, and primary study phases. The collected data were analyzed in seven stages using MAXQDA Analytics Pro 2024 (version 24.0.0). The findings reflect that socially characterized transactive interactions may be related to students’ understanding of collaboration, their socio-emotional awareness and expressiveness, as well as their perceived group well-being. On the other hand, transactive interactions characterized by cognitive features were found to be related to goal orientation, the regulation of idea-generation processes (group metacognition), and the pursuit of high-quality argumentation within the scope of knowledge processing and decision-making. The results are discussed in relation to the classroom reflections of social and cognitive transactive interactions within critical thinking processes based on collaboration. Several recommendations are provided to strengthen both the theoretical and practical frameworks of future research in this field.