Discourse About Ideas: Monitoring and Regulation in Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Environments*

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the collaborative activity of grade 5—6 students as they work on computer-simulated physics problems. We compare two groups, both similarly supported in a basic science-discourse structure, but with that structure embedded in different contexts. The first context is face-to-face, small-group interactions; the second is face-to-face and CSILE (Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environments) interactions. The CSILE interactions place emphasis on individual contributions to a communal effort. We show that CSILE has special affordances for active monitoring and regulation of students' own and others' ideas and actions. Accordingly, dividing time between asynchronous CSILE work and face-to-face conversation should result in more monitoring and reflection of ideas than face-to-face interactions alone. Ten groups of three students each worked for 12 weeks on a unit, “Gravity and the Solar System,” designing experiments and testing hypotheses on two problems: “What affects how things fall?” and “What affects the path of satellites/comets?” Analyses of videotape recordings and transcripts of conversations indicated that in the CSILE plus face-to-face condition, as compared to the face-to-face only condition, students engaged in more reflective activity. CSILE's affordances for monitoring and reflection appeared to be responsible for a more even distribution of contributions and greater attention to and productive use of the ideas of collaborators.