Abstract

During spring semester 1999, the researcher conducted a study at Montana State University in the undergraduate course Modern Geometry and the concurrent graduate course, Geometry for Teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine if students participating in on-line problem-solving activities communicate differently depending upon location of the student (on campus or off campus) and whether differences in communication are related to differences in achievement.

The eighteen students were placed into four collaborative work groups consisting of four or five students each. Groups were formed heterogeneously, to help eliminate extraneous variables, and help diminish the variability among those groups caused by factors other than the treatment.

For eleven weeks, groups were assigned problem-solving tasks. These tasks were addressed collaboratively, with each student contributing ideas, responding to ideas, proposing strategies, demonstrating solutions, and summarizing and reporting their groups' findings, all on-line. Each message sent was analyzed and ranked according to the Interaction Analysis Model developed by Gunawardena, Lowe, and Anderson (1997).

It was found that the communication phase levels were independent of whether the students were on campus or off campus, and that the communication phase levels were independent of group membership. Positive correlations were found between group task rankings and number of messages sent, number of high level message's sent, and highest phase level message attained in each group task. Total messages per task decreased during the semester, and while two of the four groups significantly decreased in average communication score, only four of the eighteen individuals in the study showed a significant decrease in average communication score.

The researcher concluded that the amount and level of communication between on-line problem-solving groups were important factors in group academic achievement, and that students communication phase level was dependent upon whether the students were on campus or off campus.

Citation

Beaudrie, B.P. Analysis of group problem-solving tasks in a geometry course for teachers using computer-mediated conferencing. Ph.D. thesis, Montana State University. Retrieved August 7, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/121583/.

This record was imported from ProQuest on October 23, 2013. [Original Record]

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Keywords

• higher education
• mathematics education
• Technology of Education