Studying Virtual Math Teams

by Stahl, Gerry

• ISBN13: 9781441902276
• ISBN10: 1441902279
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-09-16
• Publisher: Springer Nature

Summary

The nature of group cognition and shared meaning making in collaborative learning is an important research issue in CSCL. More generally, perhaps, the theme of sense making is a central topic in information science. While many authors pay lip service to these topics, few have provided much detailed analysis of the mechanisms of intersubjective meaning making as a foundation for understanding processes involved in collaborative learning and knowledge building. This book centers on detailed empirical studies of how students in small online groups make sense of math issues and how they solve problems by making meaning together. These studies are woven together with materials that describe the online environment and pedagogical orientation, as well as reflections on the theoretical implications of the findings in the studies.This book presents a coherent research agenda that has been pursued by the author and his research group presenting five concrete analyses of group interactions in different phases of the Virtual Math Teams research project. It precedes these analyses with descriptions of the project and its methodology, as well as situating this research in the past and present context of the CSCL research field. The studies are followed by discussions of their implications for the theory of group cognition and for the methodology of the learning sciences. In addition to new introductory and concluding chapters, the monograph will include analyses based upon the author's previous research, thoroughly rewritten to provide for smooth continuity of the book as a whole. The narrative of the book will be written from scratch, to provide for an engaging flow that follows the progression of the research.The VMT project has dual goals: (a) to provide a source of experience and data for practical and theoretical explorations of group cognition and (b) to develop an effective online environment and educational service for collaborative learning of mathematics. The book will reflect these twin orientations, reviewing the intertwined aims and development of the research and the service. The final third of the book will abstract from the lessons of the VMT project specifically to discuss more generally implications for CSCL pedagogy, technology, methodology and theory.

Author Biography

Gerry Stahl teaches, publishes and conducts research in human-computer interaction (HCI) and computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). His recent book, Group Cognition: Computer Support for Building Collaborative Knowledge was published by MIT Press. He is founding Executive Editor of the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (ijCSCL), published by Springer. He has contributed chapters to two edited volumes of the Springer CSCL series. He is the Principal Investigator of the Virtual Math Teams Project, a large 5-year research effort in collaboration with the Math Forum @ Drexel. He served as Program Chair for the international CSCL '02 conference, Workshops Chair for CSCL '03, CSCL '05, ICCE '06 and CSCL'07. He teaches undergraduate, masters and PhD courses in HCI, CSCW and CSCL at the I-School of Drexel University in Philadelphia. See CV for more details, at: http://www.cis.drexel.edu/faculty/gerry/resume.html.

Table of Contents

Introducing Group Cognition in Virtual Math Teams
Introduction to Part I	p. 3
A Chat About Chat	p. 7
The VMT Vision	p. 17
Mathematical Discourse as Group Cognition	p. 31
Interactional Methods and Social Practices in VMT	p. 41
From Individual Representations to Group Cognition	p. 57
Studying Group Cognition in Virtual Math Teams
Introduction to Part II	p. 77
The Sequential co-Construction of the Joint Problem Space	p. 83
The Organization of Graphical, Narrative and Symbolic Interations	p. 99
Question Co-Construction in VMT Chats	p. 141
Resolving Differences of Perspective in a VMT Session	p. 161
Studying Group Discourse in Virtual Math Teams
Introduction to Part III	p. 181
Representational Practices in VMT	p. 185
Student and Team Agency in VMT	p. 207
Group Creativity in VMT	p. 225
Inscriptions, Mathematical Ideas and Reasoning in VMT	p. 237
Reading's Work in VMT	p. 261
Designing the VMT Collaboration Environment
Introduction to Part IV	p. 279
The Integration of Dual-Interaction Spaces	p. 281
Designing a Mix of Synchronous and Asynchronous Media for VMT	p. 295
Deictic Referencing in VMT	p. 311
Scripting Group Processes in VMT	p. 327
Helping Agents in VMT	p. 335
Representing Group Interaction in VMT
Introduction to Part V	p. 357
Thread-Based Analysis of Patterns in VMT	p. 359
Studying Response-Structure Confusion in VMT	p. 373
A Multidimensional Coding Scheme for VMT	p. 399
Combining Coding and Conversion Analysis of VMT Chats	p. 421
Polyphonic Inter-Animation of Voices in VMT	p. 451
A Model for Analyzing Math Knowledge Building in VMT	p. 475
Conceptualizing Group Cognition in VMT
Introduction to Part VI	p. 501
Meaning Making in VMT	p. 505
Critical Ethnography in the VMT Project	p. 529
Toward a Science of Group Cognition	p. 555
Notes	p. 581
References	p. 585
Name Index	p. 609
Subject Index	p. 615
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