Effective collaborative problem solving comprises cognitive dimensions, in which men tend to outperform women, and social dimensions in which women tend to outperform men. We extend research on between-country differences in gender gaps by considering collaborative problem solving and its association with two indicators of societal-level gender…

Off-task activity is ubiquitous in classrooms, yet little understood. Building on recent work that illustrates the utility of off-task activity to disrupt relations of power among students, this article explores the potential functions of off-task participation during collaborative mathematics problem-solving. We examined 56 instances of off-task…

The Common Core State Standards articulate expectations for student participation in mathematical reasoning, sense making, and discussion. Yet little to no research explores the participation of students with autism in these practices. Drawing on neurodiversity and situated sociocultural theory, this article offers a case study of the mathematics…

Worked examples and collaborative learning have both been shown to facilitate learning. However, the testing of both strategies almost exclusively has been conducted independently of each other. The main aim of the current study was to examine interactions between these 2 strategies. Two experiments (N = 182 and N = 122) were conducted with…

Investigates the effect of collaboration on problem-solving performance and learning in the context of a complex, video-based mathematics problem. High-achieving 6th-grade students (N=96) were assigned to collaborative or individual problem-solving conditions. Results reveal that students in the collaborative condition outperformed students in the…

The effects of peer collaboration on mathematical and spatial reasoning were assessed for 152 fourth graders. Effects on learning with logical-physical materials were assessed 1 year later. Findings suggest that peer collaboration is effective for tasks that require reasoning but not for tasks that require rote learning or copying. (SLD)

Investigates the behaviors, interactions, and perceptions of junior high school students as they worked in structured or unstructured cooperative learning groups on problem-solving, curriculum-based tasks in mathematics, science and English. Results show that children in the structured groups were more cooperative and provided more relevant verbal…

Two aptitude-treatment interaction studies involving 61 college students examined comparative effects of metacognitive strategy training in self-questioning within cooperative group learning and traditional direct instruction on the acquisition of computing competence, learning anxiety, and positive cognition. Results support including cooperative…

The effects of problem solving and peer collaboration as two instructional methods advocated by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) were evaluated for enhancing mathematics achievement, motivation, and self-concept of 104 low- achieving third and fourth graders. There were significant positive effects for both approaches, as…

The effects of LOGO programing and computer-assisted instruction (CAI) on children's behaviors indicative of cooperative problem solving and effectance motivation were compared for 12 fourth and 28 sixth graders. Results suggest that LOGO may foster cognitive growth through opportunities for resolving cognitive conflict and may enhance effectance…