Skip to main content

Betty’s Brain Collaborative Learning

CoSL: Collaborative Science Learning and Problem Solving in a Classroom-Integrated Open-Ended Learning Environment

Project Goal:

Our main goal in this research project is to extend the scaffolding mechanisms in our OELE, Betty’s Brain to develop Collaborative Science Learning: CoSL based on students’ type of regulation. Our focus is very much on helping the students develop the reciprocal nature of metacognitive activity in constructing, clarifying, synthesizing, justifying, and critiquing activities that are core practices in learning by modeling and problem-solving in science.

Our current research and Preliminary results

We have already run an exploratory study to analyze middle school students’ collaborative regulation behaviors as they constructed science models in Betty’s Brain environment. Our quantitative analyses show that students who adopted more shared-regulation strategies demonstrated better task performance and learning gains than those that do not. Also, we found evidence that the socially shared regulation groups engaged in different actions than their peers.

Further Study

In Fall 2017, we run an experimental study, the subjects would be randomized into two groups. The experimental group would work on Betty’s Brain in pairs, the control group would work individually. Our aim is to recheck the difference between students’ type of regulation, learning outcomes, and action patterns when they work in pairs and work on their own. In addition, we will develop a multi-modal analysis that will align the computer log files with students’ type of regulation to monitor cognitive, metacognitive, regulatory, and control constructs that relate to individual and joint monitoring progress and continual evaluation of the evolving solutions.

Current researcher

(PI) Gautam Biswas

Mona Emara

Allison Moore

Yi Dong

Former researcher

Michael Tscholl

Related publication

Emara, M., Tscholl, M., Dong, Y., & Biswas, G. (2017). Analyzing Students’ Collaborative Regulation Behaviors in a Classroom-Integrated Open-Ended Learning Environment. In The International Conference on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (pp. 319-326). Philadelphia, PA.

Systems Used:

Betty’s Brain

C2STEM