In this article we analyze the dialogic learning of one pair of students in order to investigate how these students cope with a collaborative learning situation in the classroom. Our aim is to substantiate the claims that not only are young students (8 year olds) capable of solving mathematical problems collaboratively, but that they also take an active role in regulating their collaborative learning activities. More specifically, our claim is that children appear to apply constructs of "mathematical level raising", "social interaction" and "division of time" to steer their own collaborative learning and that they are rather successful in balancing these three aspects. The analysis is exploratory, but this new perspective on collaborative learning is relevant theoretically and consequential for classroom practice.