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Thesis Abstract Background: Due to the evolution of modern day medicine and clinical practice, medical education has transitioned to require more active student involvement, including self-directed and collaborative approaches to learning. The importance of developing collaborative skills early in medical education is required because of the changing dynamics of workplace practices in medicine, which increasingly rely on teamwork. Accreditation bodies for Medicine programs also mandate evidence of building teamwork capacity and skills in medical students. Teamwork training can be integrated within small group learning environments. Many factors including student behaviours impact on the effectiveness of learning within these settings. A review of the literature identified a lack of consensus about the key behaviours that underpin effective group interaction and effective learning in small group collaborative learning contexts. In addition to these observations, there is a relative paucity of effective interventions to foster the development of collaborative learning skills, particularly in medical education. This emphasises the need to identify those key behaviours and to develop strategies that promote effective behaviours in medical students. This project was designed to address this issue and had two major aims. The first was to identify the key behaviours that relate to effective learning in small group settings. The second aim was to design a complex educational intervention to support the development of these key collaborative behaviours in medical students. Methods and results: The project was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney, Australia. The UNSW Medicine program is based on the adult-learning principles of social and collaborative learning and self-directed learning. These principles are widely accepted and promoted in Medical programs world-wide. In stage 1, a qualitative exploration was undertaken to identify key collaborative behaviours relevant for medical students in small group learning. Five focus group discussions were conducted with year 1 and year 2 medical students. In addition, eight semi-structured interviews using the critical incident technique were conducted with Medicine faculty members involved in small group facilitation and teaching. Analysis of the data from the above yielded 15 behaviours that relate to effective collaborative learning. In the next step an Australia-wide modified Delphi study was conducted to identify which of these 15 behaviours were considered by educators to be most influential in collaborative learning. This led to the identification of six behaviours (preparation by the student; involvement in discussion; engagement in learning; listening skills; sharing views and voicing opinions; reflecting on feedback and responding appropriately) which were incorporated into the design of the educational intervention. In stage 2, the educational intervention was field-tested and evaluated with medical students in Phase 1 of the UNSW Medicine program (Years 1 and 2). The field test of the intervention involved a true control pre-post-test design. A total of 107 students participated in the field-test and 93 completed forms were received from participants. The analysis of the completed forms, self-perception surveys (i.e. pre-test and post-test surveys), analysis of reflective reports, student focus group discussions (nine focus groups with n= 31 students), and assessor interviews (n=7) were used to further explore the educational impact of the intervention, it’s acceptability, practicality, as well as its influence on students’ approaches to learning. Finally, stage 3 involved implementation of the educational intervention in the UNSW Medicine program as a formative evaluation activity in the context of small group learning in Phase 1 (year 1 and year 2). The aim was to evaluate its feasibility and students’ engagement with the intervention. A total of 461 completed forms were received from students. Student evaluations and written reflections showed that students engaged with the intervention and used it to develop their collaborative behaviours. Conclusions: This project contributes to the educational literature in several ways. Firstly, the key behaviours that contribute to effective interactions and learning in small group environments were identified using medical student and expert input. Then, these key behaviours were incorporated into the design of an educational intervention which focuses on developing collaborative behaviours in medical students. Both students and tutors recognised the intervention as acceptable and useful, especially as a structured basis for giving and receiving feedback and for completing the feedback loop. The intervention was also found to be feasible, practical and focused, and promoted learning and effective interaction in small group learning. In addition to these contributions, the systematic approach employed in this project could be adopted or adapted by educators to design and evaluate other educational innovations.