Abstract
This study investigated whether and how peer collaboration facilitated students' problem solving in physics. A qualitative physics test was administered to two Secondary 6 (Year 12) classes, with half of the students in each class randomly assigned to take the test individually and the other half to work in dyads. The abilities of the individuals and dyads were matched such that there was no significant difference between their physics examination grades. The test results show that the dyads performed better than the individuals on each problem and the test as a whole. The rich collaborative talk of the dyads shows that peer collaboration provided students with experiences of co-construction and conflict that were conducive to successful problem solving. However, it was found that co-construction could lead to correct as well as wrong solutions and that conflict and co-construction could occur in the same instance rather than as separate activities. The study also found that students' success in problem solving depended not so much on their ability but on how they interacted and whether and how they invoked the relevant physics principles and strategies.
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Tao, PK. Peer collaboration in solving qualitative physics problems: The role of collaborative talk. Research in Science Education 29, 365–383 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02461599
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02461599