Building arguments: key to collaborative scaffolding

ABSTRACT Collaborative problem-solving in the classroom is a student-centred pedagogical practice that looks to improve learning. However, collaboration does not occur spontaneously; instead it needs to be guided by appropriate scaffolding. In this study we explore whether a script that explicitly incorporates constructing arguments in collaborative problem-solving activities improves learning. In order to do so, a study was conducted involving 75 students from a lower-middle class state-subsidized private school in Santiago de Chile. These students were divided into three groups, each of which worked on geometry activities over 10 sixty-minute sessions that were held across a period of four weeks. To isolate the effect of incorporating technology, the first of these groups did not work with technology. The second group worked with a collaborative script that was developed for use with a tablet, while the third group used the same technology with an integrated tool that explicitly allowed the students to build arguments. We conclude that having students reflect on their own processes and outcomes by arguing their point of view can lead to an improvement in learning, more so than the technology itself.

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