The Impact of Scaffolding Prompts on the Collaborative Problem Solving of Ill-structured Tasks by Undergraduate Engineering Student Groups

Taylor Tucker; Saadeddine Shehab; Emma Mercier

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Conference: 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access
Location: Virtual On line
Publication Date: June 22, 2020
Start Date: June 22, 2020
End Date: June 26, 2021
Conference Session: Collaboration and Communication in Problem-based Learning
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods
Page Count: 12
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--35333
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/35333
Download Count: 428

Paper Authors

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Taylor Tucker University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Taylor Tucker received her Bachelor’s degree in engineering mechanics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is now pursuing a Master's in curriculum and instruction through the Digital Environments for Learning, Teaching, and Agency (DELTA) program. She is interested in engineering design and lends her technical background to her research with the Collaborative Learning Lab, exploring how to improve ill-structured tasks for engineering students in order to promote collaborative problem solving and provide experience relevant to authentic work in industry.

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Saadeddine Shehab University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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A Postdoc Research Associate at the Siebel Center for Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; studies the role of the teacher in facilitating and assessing collaborative problem solving STEM classrooms

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Emma Mercier University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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Emma Mercier is an associate professor in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her work focuses on collaborative learning in classrooms, and in particular, the use of technology for teachers and students during collaborative learning. Most recently Mercier's projects have focused on collaborative learning in required undergraduate engineering courses.

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Abstract

The impact of scaffolding prompts on the collaborative problem solving of ill-structured tasks by undergraduate engineering student groups

Ill-structured tasks are important to college-level engineering courses because they are similar to authentic problems that students will encounter in their future workplaces. As they solve these tasks, students practice applying theoretical concepts to problems they are likely to face in the future. Solving collaborative ill-structured tasks allows students to expand their learning beyond “drill-and-practice”-type problem solving and engage in higher order thinking. However, it is necessary to scaffold ill-structured tasks because they are unfamiliar to students, who are often unsure about how to begin solving the problem. Research has reported on the learning processes and outcomes associated with implementing these tasks in the classroom. However, it is not clear what scaffolding prompts can foster students’ participation in effective collaborative interactions that include not only attempting to solve the task, but also setting up the task, planning how to solve, and evaluating the completed solution. This paper examines two different collaborative ill-structured engineering tasks, and contrasts how the different scaffolding prompts influenced 1) students’ verbal interactions as they worked and 2) the groups’ final scores on the task. This study is part of a design-based implementation research project (blinded for review) that involves the design and implementation of authentic ill-structured tasks in actual undergraduate engineering classrooms. In previous work (blinded for review), we developed a framework that outlines the four collaborative problem-solving processes necessary for solving an ill-structured task: exploring the problem (P1), planning solutions (P2), attempting to solve (P3), and evaluating the solution and considering alternatives (P4). Researchers argue that these problem-solving processes are associated with better learning outcomes; thus, it is important for students to engage in all four processes as they solve this type of task. Ill-structured tasks developed from our on-going project were implemented in an undergraduate engineering classroom, where small groups of students worked collaboratively while video and audio data were collected. Our recent analysis of our task design found that the task design inherently prompted students to engage in all four processes, but with an overwhelming majority of time spent on solving the problem (P3). In this paper, we will analyze the data from eleven groups solving two tasks—one that was scaffolded using explicit prompts, and one that did not include explicit prompts. Scaffolding the tasks by including explicit prompts for P1, P2, and P4 allows students to participate more frequently in these types of turns, leading to more effective collaborative interactions and higher final solution scores. Our study promotes the evolution of collaborative problem solving by expanding on ill-structured task design theory. This research is especially relevant for engineering educators because it provides concrete recommendations on how to scaffold ill-structured tasks for engineering students.

Citation
Format

Tucker, T., & Shehab, S., & Mercier, E. (2020, June), The Impact of Scaffolding Prompts on the Collaborative Problem Solving of Ill-structured Tasks by Undergraduate Engineering Student Groups Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--35333

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - The impact of scaffolding prompts on the collaborative problem solving of ill-structured tasks by undergraduate engineering student groups

Ill-structured tasks are important to college-level engineering courses because they are similar to authentic problems that students will encounter in their future workplaces. As they solve these tasks, students practice applying theoretical concepts to problems they are likely to face in the future. Solving collaborative ill-structured tasks allows students to expand their learning beyond “drill-and-practice”-type problem solving and engage in higher order thinking. However, it is necessary to scaffold ill-structured tasks because they are unfamiliar to students, who are often unsure about how to begin solving the problem. Research has reported on the learning processes and outcomes associated with implementing these tasks in the classroom. However, it is not clear what scaffolding prompts can foster students’ participation in effective collaborative interactions that include not only attempting to solve the task, but also setting up the task, planning how to solve, and evaluating the completed solution. This paper examines two different collaborative ill-structured engineering tasks, and contrasts how the different scaffolding prompts influenced 1) students’ verbal interactions as they worked and 2) the groups’ final scores on the task.
	This study is part of a design-based implementation research project (blinded for review) that involves the design and implementation of authentic ill-structured tasks in actual undergraduate engineering classrooms. In previous work (blinded for review), we developed a framework that outlines the four collaborative problem-solving processes necessary for solving an ill-structured task: exploring the problem (P1), planning solutions (P2), attempting to solve (P3), and evaluating the solution and considering alternatives (P4). Researchers argue that these problem-solving processes are associated with better learning outcomes; thus, it is important for students to engage in all four processes as they solve this type of task. Ill-structured tasks developed from our on-going project were implemented in an undergraduate engineering classroom, where small groups of students worked collaboratively while video and audio data were collected. Our recent analysis of our task design found that the task design inherently prompted students to engage in all four processes, but with an overwhelming majority of time spent on solving the problem (P3).
	In this paper, we will analyze the data from eleven groups solving two tasks—one that was scaffolded using explicit prompts, and one that did not include explicit prompts. Scaffolding the tasks by including explicit prompts for P1, P2, and P4 allows students to participate more frequently in these types of turns, leading to more effective collaborative interactions and higher final solution scores. Our study promotes the evolution of collaborative problem solving by expanding on ill-structured task design theory. This research is especially relevant for engineering educators because it provides concrete recommendations on how to scaffold ill-structured tasks for engineering students.

AU  - Taylor Tucker
AU  - Saadeddine Shehab
AU  - Emma Mercier
CY  - Virtual On line 
DA  - 2020/06/22
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The Impact of Scaffolding Prompts on the Collaborative Problem Solving of Ill-structured Tasks by Undergraduate Engineering Student Groups
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/35333
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--35333
ER  -