Does Individual Tutoring Produce Optimal Learning?

Abstract

This research examined teaching and learning combinations that tested the relative impact on student achievement when students were paired with one other student or a large group of same-age peers, and when students worked with a teacher or did not. The comparison took place in a computer-supported collaborative learning context. The results reported here demonstrated that access to a teacher or a large group of same-aged peers were equally potent learning resources in computer supported collaborative learning environments. Analyses further confirmed that students working in groups and students individually tutored by a teacher learned and achieved more on a battery of tests than children who worked with only one other child partner. These results differ substantially from a large body of research reported to date (Bloom, 1984; Hughes & Greenhough, 1995; Radziszewska & Rogoff, 1991; Rogoff, 1990).