to explore who is communicating with whom we turn first to an examination of the overall interaction patterns these patterns can reveal whether all students communication equally with all other supporting class-wide collaborative learning or whether students restrict their communications to only some other students thus not fulfilling the objectives of class-wide exchange although it can be expected that them structures associated with completing the major project will heavily influence who communicates with whom and about what we do not know how the presence of project teams affects communication across the class as a whole and across the term class members may still be motivated to work share information socialize or exchange emotional support with others even if not involved in the same projects some may wish to share their expertise with the whole class while others may seek information from the whole class team members may seek help outside their own teams to gain information unavailable among the team members