AbstractThe researchers will develop a programme of computer‐based groupwork in two clusters of four‐six primary/middle schools. This will be improved and modified in the light of the first year's experience. Research techniques will also be piloted during this developmental phase. A series of studies will then be planned over 2 years as a coherent programme, involving both teacher researchers and university‐based researchers. These will investigate relationships between context variables, group processes and pupil attitudes and learning. Special attention will be given to the effects of varying the computing environment and the learning task, to pupils' psychological characteristics and their variance or invariance, to group size and competition, to gender effects, to teacher intervention strategies, and to the effect of prior training in cooperative groupwork and/or experience of groupwork off the com