Unveiling young children’s collaborative communication in hands-on problem-solving

Abstract

<p>Collaborating and solving multi-level problems are pivotal skills that education should emphasise from the early years. Previous studies of young children’s collaboration have highlighted language as a key factor. However, young children often struggle to articulate their ideas verbally in collaborative situations due to their developing language skills. This communication challenge is particularly prevalent in inclusive classes with diverse skill levels and learning needs. This study investigates the collaborative communication of 4-6-year-olds during a hands-on, collaborative problem-solving task where 15 teams (<i>N</i>=49) from three inclusive early childhood education (ECE) groups built towers without teacher support. Video recordings of four teams were selected for detailed analysis to demonstrate various collaboration methods. The multimodal analysis was employed to identify verbal and nonverbal interactions, actions, and problem-solving stages, and co-occurrence network analysis was used to capture the nuances of the team process over time. The findings revealed that embodiment, materiality, peer support, and examples were vital to the children’s hands-on problem-solving process. Although all teams could work according to the assignment, we identified four examples of developing collaboration: solitary problemsolving without collaboration, side-by-side interaction as a step toward collaboration, actions as a means of collaboration, and goal-oriented, verbally interactive collaboration. The study highlights the need for ECE to broaden the pedagogical understanding of teaching and learning methods of young children. Along with teacher-led teaching, children should be offered opportunities to focus on collaborative problem-solving that promotes ownership of learning, encourages children to work together on open-ended challenges, as well as to practice and learn communication skills.<br></p>