Using technology to teach flexibility through peer discussion

The present chapter focuses on how cognitive flexibility, in a broad sense, might inform our understanding of the development of comprehension skills, and how it could contribute to methods of improving children’s reading comprehension, drawing on the benefits of new developments in computer-supported collaborative learning. In particular, we focus on encouraging children to talk about language, consistent with the idea that children with poor comprehension often have relatively low levels of metalinguistic awareness, and that raising this awareness seems to be a useful and highly motivating way to foster better reading comprehension. One of these training methods involves discussing jokes, and the quote above shows clearly how some children, who are just learning to understand the relation of text and meaning, just don’t get it. Understanding what cognitive developmental changes might underlie comprehension difficulties should lead the way to new remedial approaches, and new technology can provide us with additional support to help children coordinate form and meaning in learning to read.