The Relationship between Type of Knowledge and Process of Peer Collaboration in a Computer-Mediated Classroom.

The purpose of this study was to examine how students acquire their knowledge through peer collaboration in a new educational environment called "Computer Supported Intentional Learning Environment (CSILE)." Twenty-seven 5th- and 6th-grade students were instructed to create their collective database for a study topic, "electricity." Their reported thoughts were shared with others in the database, and the others could easily comment on the thoughts. Thus, mediated by the database system, students were allowed to asynchronously collaborate with their friends. Based on the quality of their finally constructed knowledge in the database, students were divided into three types of learners: (1) Good Theory Builders, (2) Average Theory Builders, and (3) Poor Theory Builders. The processes of students' learning were compared among the types of learners based on the records of their computer manipulation. The results showed: (1) that successful learners planned their learning in the initial period and constantly produced their thoughts in the database; (2) that successful learners spent much metacognition effort on their evidence but not on their theories; and (3) that successful learners effectively used their personal resources in the classroom to construct their theories in the second half of learning. (Author)