The Development of Group Interaction Patterns: How Groups Become Adaptive, Generative, and Transformative Learners

Abstract

This article integrates the literature on group interaction process analysis and group learning, providing a framework for understanding how patterns of interaction develop. The model proposes how adaptive, generative, and transformative learning processes evolve and vary in their functionality. Environmental triggers for learning, the group's readiness to learn, stage of development, control mechanisms, and facilitation influence the interaction patterns that emerge, are reinforced, and repeated over time. The model has implications for research on the evolution of adaptive, generative, and transformative group learning and for diagnosing group conditions and implementing interventions that promote group learning.