Productive Failure is an instructional approach in which students engage in problem-solving attempts prior to instruction. The Productive Failure approach has been found to be more supportive for conceptual knowledge acquisition during subsequent instruction compared to a direct-instruction condition in which students receive instruction first…

Studies on the productive failure (PF) approach have demonstrated that attempting to solve a problem prepares students more effectively for later instruction compared to observing failed problem-solving attempts prior to instruction. However, the examples of failure used in these studies did not display the problem-solving-and-failing…

Research on productive failure suggests that attempting to solve a problem prior to instruction facilitates conceptual understanding compared to receiving instruction prior to problem solving. The assumptions are that during the problem-solving phase, students activate their prior knowledge, become aware of their knowledge gaps, and discover deep…

The current work builds on research demonstrating the effectiveness of Productive Failure (PF) for learning. While the effectiveness of PF has been demonstrated for STEM learning, it has not yet been investigated whether PF is also beneficial for learning in non-STEM domains. Given this need to test PF for learning in domains other than…

This paper presents a fine-grained process analysis of 22 students in a classroom-based learning setting. The students engaged (and failed) in problem-solving attempts prior to instruction (i.e., the Productive-Failure approach). We used the HeuristicsMiner algorithm to analyze the data of a quasi-experimental study. The applied algorithm allowed…

Recently, there has been a growing interest in learning approaches that combine two phases: an initial problem-solving phase followed by an instruction phase (PS-I). Two often cited examples of instructional approaches following the PS-I scheme include Productive Failure and Invention. Despite the growing interest in PS-I approaches, to the best…

Collaborative learning has been shown to be beneficial for older students, but there has not been much research to show if these results transfer to elementary school students. In addition, collaborative and individual modes of instruction may be better for acquiring different types of knowledge. Collaborative Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS)…

Authoring tools for Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) have been shown to decrease the amount of time that it takes to develop an ITS. However, most of these tools currently do not extend to collaborative ITSs. In this paper, we illustrate an extension to the Cognitive Tutor Authoring Tools (CTAT) to allow for development of collaborative ITSs that…

Collaborative and individual learning are both frequently used in classrooms to support learning. However, little research has investigated the benefits of combining individual and collaborative learning, as compared to learning only individually or only collaboratively. With our study, we address this research gap. We compared a combined…

While collaborative Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) have been designed for older students and have been shown to support sense-making behaviors, there has not been as much work on creating systems to support collaboration between elementary school students. We have developed and tested, with 84 students, individual and collaborative versions…

Collaborative and individual instruction may support different types of knowledge. Optimal instruction for a subject domain may therefore need to combine these two modes of instruction. There has not been much research, however, on combining individual and collaborative learning with Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs). A first step is to expand…

Effective collaboration in computer-mediated settings among spatially distributed people is a precondition for success in many new learning and working contexts but it is hard to achieve. We have developed two instructional approaches to improve collaboration in such settings by promoting people's capabilities to collaborate in a fruitful way and…