Opening windows in each other’s mind: social sharing of hypertext models

The present study explores the effects of collaborative construction of a hypermedia on the collective reasoning skills of primary school children. The aim is to describe how small groups of children organise their work, make plans, create a product, and revise their work. Children working on a three-year project at the production of a hypermedia presentation were compared with control classes in an experimental work-session which simulated a hypertext production. A qualitative analysis has been performed on the conversational data collected through recordings of group-work discussions. The results reveal the effect of the experimental condition: children involved in the hypermedia project deployed different skills in the social organization of work, in the management of information, and in the construction of the final product. Also the quality of collective reasoning indicates that children in hypermedia project displayed greater interdependence in resolving the task.