Dyad composition effects on cognitive elaboration and student achievement

The authors addressed the following research question: Does composition of dyads in terms of gender and ability affect student participation, the level of cognitive elaborations during a collaborative activity, and individual student achievement? The study involved 24 6th-grade dyads paired as follows: a low-ability student with a medium-ability student; and a medium-ability student with a high-ability student. Results of a follow-up balance beam test showed students with the highest level of ability in the dyad demonstrated more cognitive elaborations and performed better than did students with the lowest level of ability in the dyad. That is, medium-ability students benefited more from the collaboration with low-ability students than from the collaboration with high-ability students.