Sociocognitive roles in science group discourse

The purpose of this study was to examine students' roles during a long-term collaborative task that required them to master complex sets of cognitive, regulatory and social skills needed for building knowledge largely from their own and their peers' ideas and observations. Samples of discourse were collected from 24 8th grade students in eight groups within four classrooms throughout a 12-week unit on constructing and testing mental models of the nature of matter. Eight prominent sociocognitive roles that served socio-emotional, conceptual and metacognitive functions are described. The roles are related to individual students' perspectives on learning, and to the levels of reasoning each group achieved. The results can be used to raise students' and teachers' awareness of the personal resources, interactive processes and norms that can support or derail knowledge construction in collaborative groups.