Integrated learning with scriptable artefacts

A collaborative learning script is a pedagogical method that structures group interactions to foster the emergence of productive interactions (explanation, argumentation,..). These interactions have been associated with positive learning outcomes. An integrated learning script includes activities occurring at three social levels: individual, small group and class-wide.

The art of scripting is to find a proper equilibrium between the need to structure group activities and the risk of spoiling the natural richness of teamwork. It occurs that a similar concern is shared by researchers who design computational artefacts, such as interactive tables, walls, lamps, etc. These artefacts are designed for mediating co-present social interactions in a smooth way, avoiding being a social barrier as computer displays often do. This research proposal explores the convergence between integrated scripts and interactive furniture. We propose to investigate the effects of scriptable artefacts on the emergence of productive interactions in collaborative learning situations. We chose a design-based research method for exploring the effects of 3 types of scriptable furniture on four types of generic learning activities. Our empirical studies will capture how users will adapt and/or repurpose these artefacts we have designed and how this affects their verbal interactions.

Our main research question is: What are the effects of scriptable artefacts on the emergence of productive interactions in collaborative learning situations? Let's use define the different elements of this question:

By 'scriptable', we mean that some mechanisms developed for CSCL scripts are translated into physical artefacts. We use the term 'scriptable' rather than 'scripted' because our ambition that the script would not be rigid but could be modified by the teacher or the students under some conditions defined by Dillenbourg & Tchounikine (2007).
By 'artefact', we mean any physical object that does not look a priori as a computer; it can be a table, a lamp, a wall, a sand box, the mock-up of a mountain. We tend to avoid highly expensive furniture such as table with embedded flat displays and focus on "mid-tech" artefacts, e.g. tables that embed simple technologies. We also tend to focus on rather large objects: robustness is a concern since the final use of these artefacts is to be used by students in learning places, even when teachers are not present.
By 'productive interactions', we refer to types of (mostly verbal) interactions that have been associated to learning gains: elaborated explanations (Webb, 1991), argumentation and conflict resolution (Baker, 1999) and mutual regulation (Blaye, 1988).
By 'collaborative learning situations', we refer to both formal learning where a teacher sets up a script for a learning session and to informal situations where a team of students simply pick up a table to study together or jointly work on their assignments.

This main research question raises 4 sub-questions:

Which scripting mechanisms can be implemented in interactive furniture augmented by mechanical and/or computational mechanisms?
Are students / teachers able to adapt scriptable furniture to requirements of a specific collaborative situations?
Do students use these mechanisms as they were intended to be used or do they 're-purpose' them?
Do embedded scripts have an impact on the collaborative process, namely on verbal interactions?