scholarly journals The pivotal role of monitoring for collaborative problem solving seen in interaction, performance, and interpersonal physiology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eetu Haataja ◽  
Jonna Malmberg ◽  
Muhterem Dindar ◽  
Sanna Järvelä
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Collaborative Problem Solving ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Collaborative Group ◽  
Collaborative Task ◽  
Collaborative Problem ◽  
Group Members

AbstractBeing aware of the progress towards one’s goals is considered one of the main characteristics of the self-regulation process. This is also the case for collaborative problem solving, which invites group members to metacognitively monitor the progress with their goals and externalize it in social interactions while solving a problem. Monitoring challenges can activate group members to control the situation together, which can be seen as adjustments on different systemic levels (physiological, psychological, and interpersonal) of a collaborative group. This study examines how the pivotal role of monitoring for collaborative problem solving is reflected in interactions, performance, and interpersonal physiology. The study has foci in two central characteristics of monitoring interactions that facilitate groups’ regulation in reaching their goals. First is valence of monitoring, indicating whether the group members think they are progressing towards their goal or not. Second is equality of participation in monitoring interactions between group members. Participants of the study were volunteering higher education students (N = 57), randomly assigned to groups of three members whose collaborative task was to learn to run a business simulation. The collaborative task was video recorded, and the physiological arousal of each participant was recorded from their electrodermal activity. The results of the study suggest that both the valence and equality of participation are identifiable in monitoring interactions and they both positively predict groups’ performance in the task. Equality of participation to monitoring was not related to the interpersonal physiology. However, valence of monitoring was related to interpersonal physiology in terms of physiological synchrony and arousal. The findings support the view that characteristics of monitoring interactions make a difference to task performance in collaborative problem solving and that interpersonal physiology relates to these characteristics.

Promises and Challenges of Scaffolded Instruction

1994 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith A. Winn
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Reading Difficulties ◽  
Student Characteristics ◽  
Collaborative Problem Solving ◽  
Collaborative Problem ◽  
Scaffolded Instruction ◽  
Challenging Students ◽  
Made In

Scaffolded instruction refers to teachers (a) challenging students to engage in tasks that they are unable to complete independently and (b) providing the support needed to enable students to share the teachers' understanding of the tasks and successfully carry them out. This article addresses the potential and the challenges of scaffolded instruction within the context of an exploratory study of the implementation of mediated collaborative problem solving. This model of instruction for self-regulation was implemented by the author with two groups of students, most of whom were experiencing reading difficulties. The model and its implementation are described and suggestions for making scaffolded instruction manageable are made in the areas of planning, attention to student characteristics, and use of a routine or metascript.

Incorporating “Soft Skills” Into the Collaborative Problem-Solving Equation

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald E. Riggio ◽  
Karan Saggi
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Collaborative Problem Solving ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Collaborative Problem ◽  
Communication And Coordination

In only a very few places, Neubert, Mainert, Kretzschmar, & Greiff (2015) mention the role of communication and coordination among team members in collaborative problem solving. Although complex and collaborative problem solving is indeed an imperative for team and organizational success in the 21st century, it is easier said than done. Collaborative problem solving is critically dependent on the communication and interaction skills of the team members and of the team leader. The intent of this commentary is to shine a light on the critical role of interpersonal and communication skills in complex and collaborative problem solving.

scholarly journals Collaborative reasoning in the context of group competition

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0246589
Author(s):  
Andreas Domberg ◽  
Michael Tomasello ◽  
Bahar Köymen
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
The Other ◽  
Collaborative Problem Solving ◽  
Collaborative Reasoning ◽  
Competitive Condition ◽  
Communicative Acts ◽  
Collaborative Problem ◽  
Group Competition ◽  
Group Members

A key skill in collaborative problem-solving is to communicate and evaluate reasons for proposals to arrive at the decision benefiting all group members. Although it is well-documented that collaborative contexts facilitate young children’s reasoning, less is known about whether competition with other groups contributes to children’s collaborative reasoning. We investigated whether between-group competition facilitates children’s within-group collaborative reasoning, regarding their production of reasons and their use of transacts, communicative acts that operate on one another’s proposals and reasoning. We presented 5- and 7-year-old peer dyads with two collaborative problem-solving tasks (decorating a zoo and a dollhouse). In one task, children competed against another group (the competitive condition); whereas in the other task, they did not (non-competitive condition). Our results suggest that children’s sensitivity to group competition as reflected in their reasoning changed depending on the task. When they decorated a house, they produced more transacts in the competitive condition than in the non-competitive condition; whereas when they decorated a zoo, this pattern was reversed. Thus, our results highlight that group competition did not influence children’s collaborative reasoning consistently across different contexts.

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