Effects of Using Multiple Forms of Support to Enhance Students’ Collaboration during Concept Mapping

Abstract

Collaborative learning provides opportunities to facilitate students' knowledge construction. However, students may face challenges while constructing meaning through dialogue. This study explored multiple forms of support to foster collaboration that would lead to a deeper understanding of science ideas and high-quality group concept maps. Ninety-five students from four 8th grade science classrooms participated in this study. Using a 2 x 2 experimental design, we examined the effect of teacher modeling of prompts and the effect of meaningful individual preparation prior to collaboration on the quality of students' concept maps. Statistical analyses revealed that groups that prepared individual concept maps and received teacher modeling of prompts generated the highest quality concept maps. Further, teacher modeling of prompts was only found to be effective when combined with the individual preparation of concept maps prior to collaboration. Implications for classroom practice and future research are discussed.