| Cooperative learning is one of the powerful assets in pedagogy.In cooperative learning,based on prior knowledge,learners jointly master knowledge through interactive cognitive processes(i.e.,knowledge co-construction and group awareness),and then expand their respective knowledge systems.Common knowledge refers to the shared knowledge of the content within the group before cooperative learning.Knowledge co-construction refers to group members conducting deep processed integration by linking prior knowledge with new knowledge.As a group metacognitive process,group awareness refers to group members monitor each other's knowledge content and knowledge level.The common knowledge theory suggests that(1)group members with common knowledge have a similar understanding of cooperative learning content,that is,to form cognitive alignment;(2)common knowledge facilitates mutual understanding,reduces the cognitive cost of communicating ambiguity among members,and cognitive surplus can be used to further process new knowledge.According to group cognitive neuroscience,cognitive alignment leads to neural alignment,that is,interbrain synchronization;the latter is thought to possibly hint at the inter-brain basis of human cooperation and learning.Although previous studies have focused on the psychological and neural basis of how individuals' prior knowledge promotes learning performance,the studies on "how common knowledge promotes cooperative learning" are lack.And these studies have following limitations:(1)Behavioral empirical studies or questionnaires are mostly used rather than adopting multi-modal paradigm,that is,collecting the behavior and brain data of interactive members simultaneously in learning scenarios;(2)Focusing on some specific learning content,its conclusions may lack generality and applicability.(3)It is not clear how the interactive cognitive process affects the role of common knowledge in cooperative learning.Therefore,this study focuses on "how common knowledge promotes cooperative learning",adopting the adapted cooperative learning paradigm,and f NIRS-based hyperscanning to explore two subquestions:(1)How does common knowledge facilitate collaborative learning? How about the generality of the positive effect of common knowledge? What is the brainto-brain basis of common knowledge?(2)How do the interactive cognitive processes(knowledge co-construction and group awareness)in cooperative learning affect(enhance or weaken)the effect of common knowledge on cooperative learning? How about their inter-brain basis?Study 1(Experiments 1,2,and 3)employed an adapted cooperative learning paradigm to explore the first sub-question.The paradigm consists of four sessions:individual knowledge preparation,pre-test,cooperative learning,and post-test.In the individual preparation stage,participants were randomly assigned to two groups: the common group(mastered the same knowledge by themselves)or the complementary group(mastered different and complementary knowledge by themselves).Then the learning performance was tested.In the cooperative learning stage,f NIRS-based hyperscanning was used to adopt the brain activity of dyads when they study the rules of graphical reasoning(experiment 1)and German words(experiments 2 and 3).In experiment 1,dyads jointly learned four rules of graph reasoning and two examples corresponding to each rule.The learning tasks of Experiment 2 and Experiment 3consist of 10 trials.In each trial(Experiment 2),dyads jointly learned the spelling and interpretation of a new word,and then separately selected 1 word from the “word wall”consisting of 9 words,which had been learned in the preparation stage.Then they were asked to communicate the skills of memorizing words.Compared to Experiment2,Experiment 3 eliminated the interference of other words on the target word: two subjects were asked to learn the spelling and interpretation of a new word together,and then the subjects were directly presented with the 2 learned words and no other words were presented.The post-test consisted of learning performance tests and questionnaires(e.g.,deep processing,favorability,communication quality,competence,dependence,and intrinsic motivation).Study 2(Experiment 4)explored the second sub-problem.In the cooperative learning stage,the knowledge co-construction was manipulated(present vs.absent).Specifically,dyads were asked to separately select 1 word from the word wall to form a simple sentence(“subject + predicate + object”)with the new words in the cooperative learning stage.The procedures and learning content are the same as those of Experiment 2.In order to further reveal the role of knowledge co-construction in "positive effect of common knowledge",we conducted a cross-experiment(Experiment 2 and Experiment 4)analysis: 2(prior knowledge: common vs.Complementary)× 2(knowledge co-construction: present vs.absent).Study 3(Experiment 5)explored the second sub-problem.In the cooperative learning stage,group awareness was manipulated(present vs.absent),Specifically,dyads were told whether they mastered the words which had been learned in preparation stage.Specifically,the cue(A or B)appears directly below the corresponding word: "AB" represented both of them have mastered the word;"A" "B" represented one of them has mastered the word;blank represented neither of them have mastered the word.The procedures and learning content were the same as in Experiment 3.In order to further reveal the role of group awareness in "positive effect of common knowledge",we conducted a cross-experiment(Experiment 3 and Experiment 5)analysis: 2(prior knowledge: common vs.complementary)× 2(group awareness: present vs.absent).The results showed that: First,no matter the learning content is non-verbal learning(Experiments 1)or verbal learning(Experiments 2 and 3),and the learning task is difficult(Experiments 2)or easy(Experiments 3),common knowledge promoted learning performance;its psychological basis may be the deep processing in cooperative learning;Inter-brain synchronization,mainly in the left temporal cortex and the right temporal cortex,corresponds to the above two types of learning content;the above inter-brain synchronization predicted the learning performance.Second,deeply processing was the potential common psychological basis for knowledge coconstruction and common knowledge.Knowledge co-construction would make up for the lack of common knowledge among students,and played a similar role in promoting learning as common knowledge.Inter-brain synchronization existed in the right frontal cortex;this inter-brain synchronization predicted learning performance.Third,group awareness can both promote cooperative learning and expand the learning-promoting advantage of common knowledge;Inter-brain synchronization associated with group awareness occurred in the right prefrontal cortex;this interbrain synchronization predicted the learning performance.The above findings supported the hypotheses of group knowledge theory and group cognitive neuroscience.Specifically,(1)At the "group brain" level,we found the inter-brain synchronization identified the interactive learning process based on common knowledge;and both knowledge co-construction and group awareness can also be identified by inter-brain synchronization;this study showed that common knowledge and interactive cognitive process together shaped the brain activity of collaborative learning dyad and supported the process of cooperative learning;(2)At the cognitive level,the positive effect of common knowledge were not only be weakened by knowledge co-construction,but also be expanded by group awareness.These results reflected the role of knowledge and interactive cognitive processes in learning activities.Therefore,this study was an important attempt to apply group cognitive neuroscience technique in educational psychology,providing key evidence at the behavioral and neural levels for group knowledge theory.At the practical level,it provided a powerful reference for cooperative learning strategies and teaching method guidance. |
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