\u201cAnything taking shape?\u201d Capturing various layers of small group collaborative problem solving in an experiential geometry course in initial teacher education

Johanna Pöysä-Tarhonen,Päivi Häkkinen,Sanna Järvelä,Pasi Tarhonen,Piia Näykki

doi:10.1007/s11251-021-09562-5

Abstract

Collaborative problem solving (CPS) is widely recognized as a prominent 21st-century skill to be mastered. Until recently, research on CPS has often focused on problem solution by the individual; the interest in investigating how the theorized problem-solving constructs function as broader social units, such as pairs or small groups, is relatively recent. Capturing the complexity of CPS processes in group-level interaction is challenging. Therefore, a method of analysis capturing various layers of CPS was developed that aimed for a deeper understanding of CPS as a small-group enactment. In the study, small groups of teacher education students worked on two variations of open-ended CPS tasks—a technology-enhanced task and a task using physical objects. The method, relying on video data, encompassed triangulation of analysis methods and combined the following: (a) directed content analysis of the actualized CPS in groups, (b) process analysis and visualizations, and (c) qualitative cases. Content analysis did not show a large variation in how CPS was actualized in the groups or tasks for either case, whereas process analysis revealed both group- and task-related differences in accordance with the interchange of CPS elements. The qualitative cases exemplified the interaction diversity in the quality of coordination and students’ equal participation in groups. It was concluded that combining different methods gives access to various layers of CPS; moreover, it can contribute to a deeper articulation of the CPS as a group-level construct, providing divergent ways to understand CPS in this context.

Highlights

This paper presents the development of a method capturing various layers of collaborative problem solving (CPS) for a deeper understanding of CPS as a small-group enactment
In Task 2, the largest element, Problem Reanalysis, was followed by Participation as the second largest and Coordination from the cognitive set as the third largest sub-element. It seems that cognitive elements were more identifiable from the interaction data but with slightly different task-related emphases: Task 1 involved more task exploration than coordination, while Task 2 involved more coordination than task exploration
The results suggest that in Group B, the average occurrence of social states is slightly higher in Task 2 than it is in Task 1 (Task 1: 0.115, Task 2: 0.122), but the value for state changes regarding social elements is remarkably lower in Task 2 compared with Task 1. (The calculated proportional difference between the tasks is 35.2% less)

Summary

Introduction

This paper presents the development of a method capturing various layers of collaborative problem solving (CPS) for a deeper understanding of CPS as a small-group enactment. Because of the inherent complexity of the construct, determining how to identify the manifested behaviors of CPS and capture the processes at the group level is challenging (Dowell et al, 2020), especially in open-ended problem spaces that lack clarity of the problem solution (Scoular et al, 2017) Despite their usefulness in certain situations, methods that rely primarily on participants’ perceptions of collaboration and CPS via questionnaires, self- or peer evaluations (for an overview, see Kyllonen et al, 2018), or analyzing the contents of communication—irrespective of their semantic and temporal relations—can afford limited understanding around the actual processes of collaboration (Dowell et al, 2020; Swiecki et al, 2020)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion