The effects of representation on students' elaborations in collaborative inquiry

In order to better understand how software design choices may influence students’ collaborative learning, we conducted a study of the influence of tools for constructing representations of evidential models on collaborative learning processes and outcomes. Pairs of participants worked with one of three representations (matrix, graph, text) while investigating a complex public health problem. Focusing on students’ collaborative investigative processes and post-hoc essays, we present several analyses that assess the impact of representation type on students’ elaborations of their emerging knowledge. Our analyses indicate significant impacts on the extent to which students revisit knowledge and the likelihood that they will use that knowledge later.