SOCIAL AND COMMUNICATIVE PROCESSES IN COMPUTER-BASED PROBLEM-SOLVING

This paper overviews the results of four studies designed to investiga te the effects of collaborative modes of computer use upon children's performance and learning. All used the same type of problem solving ta sk, couched within an adventure game format. The first of these studie s provides a striking illustration of how children who work in pairs o n a route planning task can show better learning outcomes than childre n who work on the same problem individually. The possible psychologica l processes mediation this effect are considered. The second study ext ends this consideration further and seeks to identify those aspects of verbal interaction that underpin productive paired interaction. The t hird study includes consideration of the efficacy of pairing as a func tion of the relative ability of pair members. The fourth study focuses upon the effects of working in the presence of others, even in the ab sence of interaction. Taken together, the results of the third and fou rth studies highlight the importance of paying closer attention to the ways in which children construe the particular experimental condition s we create and their own position in relation to them.