Collaborative or Individual Learning within Productive Failure: Does the Social Form of Learning Make a Difference?

Productive Failure (PF) – comprising initial problem solving and delayed instruction – has been proven effective for learning when compared to Direct Instruction (DI) in multiple studies with high school and university students. Although the problem-solving phase is usually implemented in a collaborative setting, the role of collaboration for the effectiveness of PF remains unclear. In two quasi-experimental studies we investigated whether collaborative as compared to individual learning in PF leads to more learning. We also tested whether the beneficial PF effect could be replicated with much younger students, namely 4 and 5 graders, than previous studies. Only our first study replicated the PF effect. While the first study did not reveal differences between collaborative and individual learning, in the second study individual learners even outperformed their collaborative counterparts in both PF and DI conditions. Against these findings, we discuss possible prerequisites for PF and propose an agenda for follow-up CSCL research.