Analogical Scaffolding in Collaborative Learning

Abstract

Past research has shown that collaboration can facilitate learning and problem solving (e.g., Azmitia, 1988; Barron, 2000). In the current work, we compared the effects of three collaborative learning conditions: prompts that encourage analogical comparison between examples, prompts that guide sequentially studying single examples, and traditional instruction (practicing problem solving), as students learned to solve physics problems in the domain of rotational kinematics. Preliminary results showed a significant problem type by condition interaction effect