Learning to relate qualitative and quantitative problem representations ina model-based setting for collaborative problem solving

In an experimental study, we investigated how 10th graders acquire, extend, and successively relate knowledge about qualitative and quantitative aspec ts of classical mechanics. The study was made up of 2 main phases. In the I st phase, students were taught either qualitative or quantitative aspects o f classical mechanics by means of 2 different instructional units. In both units, concept maps were used for the presentation of information. In the 2 nd phase, dyads were formed with students who worked on different instructi onal units and thus possessed systematically different knowledge. The 2 stu dents collaboratively worked on problems that were beyond the competence of each of them and demanded the coordinated use of knowledge about qualitati ve and quantitative aspects. Before and after the instruction as well as af ter the collaborative problem solving, students had to work on multicompone nt tests. In addition, during the collaborative problem solving, protocols were taken of the students' mutual exchange of information. An analysis of the multicomponent tests revealed that qualitative as well as quantitative knowledge can successfully be taught by means of concept maps. Students who initially were taught qualitative aspects of physics gained significantly more from the information provided by their quantitatively instructed partn ers during the collaborative problem solving than the other way around. An analysis of individual problem-solving attempts uncovered that students lea rned to construct increasingly more complete qualitative and quantitative p roblem representations. An explorative protocol analysis of the students' d ialogues further indicated that the students gradually shifted their focus from quantitative to qualitative problem representations during collaborati ve problem solving.