Exploring the relationship between metacognitive and collaborative talk during group mathematical problem solving – what do we mean by collaborative metacognition?

The purpose of this study was to enhance our understanding of the relationship between collaborative talk and metacognitive talk during group mathematical problem-solving. Research suggests that collaborative talk may mediate the use of metacognitive talk, which in turn is associated with improved learning outcomes. However, our understanding of the role of group work on the individual use of metacognition during problem-solving has been limited because research has focused on either the individual or the group as a collective. Here, primary students (aged nine to 10) were video-recorded in a naturalistic classroom setting during group mathematical problem-solving sessions. Student talk was coded for metacognitive, cognitive and social content, and also for collaborative content. Compared with cognitive talk, we found that metacognitive talk was more likely to meet the criteria to be considered collaborative, with a higher probability of being both preceded by and followed by collaborative talk. Our results suggest that collaborative metacognition arises from combined individual and group processes