Social Psychology of Education 5: 179–200, 2001. © 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. 179 Equity and status in group collaboration: learning through explanations depends on task characteristics ALEXANDER WILLIAMS CHIZHIK College of Education, San Diego State University, San Deigo, CA 92182-1153, USA. e-mail: AChizhik@mail.SDSU.edu Abstract. Although many instructors use collaborative group work as one tool in their reper- toire, much research remains to be done on how learning occurs within collaborative learning en- vironments. The present study contributes to this goal by finding that giving explanations during collaborative group work contributes to learning on single-answer group tasks, while task-related participation contributes to learning on variable-answer group tasks. Furthermore, the present study found that European–American students showed higher achievement than African–American stu- dents after working on a single-answer group task. Importantly, this race-based difference in achieve- ment was tied to a race-based difference in giving explanations. These results reveal modest, but important support for the hypothesis that variable-answer group tasks provide a more equitable environment for participation than single-answer group tasks. 1. Introduction In studies of students working and learning in groups, different task types have been emphasized. For example, Cohen and her colleagues (Cohen, 1994; Cohen, Lotan, Scarloss, & Arellano, 1999) have found that variable-answer tasks including group goals produce an environment, where learning through participation takes place. Consequently, their research tends to utilize variable-answer tasks, such as measuring circumferences of animals’ stomachs. Groups not only have to de- cide on ways to take measurements, they also have to decide the location of each ‘stomach’. Other researchers within the field of collaborative group work, how- ever, have found that learning takes place when groups engage in single-answer tasks, where elaborate explanations are generated and prompt answers follow any questions that arise within the group work (Webb, 1991; Webb & Palincsar, 1996). While most of this research has centered on interactions within groups, little research has directly investigated the relationship between task structure and col- laborative group interactions. The goal of the study presented in this article was to shed light on the influence that task structure has on group dynamics that af- fect achievement. First, this study examined whether giving explanations during group work affects learning equally on single-answer and variable-answer tasks. Second, as equity in learning is of extreme importance within group collaboration