Educational Technology Support for Collaborative Learning With Multiple Visual Representations in Chemistry

Abstract

Educational technologies have two features that can enhance collaborative learning. First, they can provide collaboration scripts that adaptively react to student actions and prompt them to engage in effective collaborative behaviors. Second, collaboration often involves multiple visual representations. But many students have difficulties in making sense of representations. Educational technologies can support students in doing so by adapting to how they construct, interpret, and connect representations. We conducted a quasi-experiment with 61 undergraduate chemistry students to test the effectiveness of an adaptive collaboration script that prompts students to discuss visual representations. A control condition collaboratively solved worksheet problems with multiple visual representations without a collaboration script. An experimental condition solved the same problems using an educational technology with the script. The experimental condition showed significantly higher learning gains on a transfer posttest and on complex questions on a midterm exam three weeks later.