The aim of this study was to explore metacognition, specifically socially shared metacognitionwithin computer-supported collaborative problem solving. Another aim of this study was to findmethodological solutions for uncovering how metacognition becomes visible and shared in groupproblem solving in a text-based and asynchronous learning environment.
During this dissertation study, two empirical experiments were performed. Participants in thefirst experiment were secondary school students (N=16) who worked with the Knowledge Forum(KF) learning environment. In the second experiment, triads of pre-service teachers’ (N=18)problem solving was supported by the Workmates (WM) learning environment. The data of thisstudy consist of discussion forum data, self-report questionnaires, and individual’s feeling ofdifficulty graphs. In the data analysis, quantitative and qualitative research methods, along withindividual and group level analyses, were combined to provide a deeper understanding of thephenomena being studied. A qualitative content analysis of the computer notes at the cognitive,metacognitive and social level were first analysed at the individual level, which made visibleindividual thinking and characterized the nature of the online discussions. In the interpretationphase, the categorizations were interpreted as group level processes in order to examine thecontextual development of collaborative problem solving. To accomplish this, a process-orientedgraph of group problem solving was developed. Further, to understand how socially sharedmetacognition in group problem solving can be related to individual metacognition, especiallymetacognitive experiences, group members’ individual feelings of difficulty were combined withthe results of the discussion forum data.
The results of this study show that the process of socially shared metacognition is adifferentiator in the success of a group’s mathematical problem solving. Socially sharedmetacognition requires that group members participate in joint problem solving intentionally andreciprocally, acknowledge each other’s thinking and develop their ideas further. In other words,the process of socially shared metacognition has intention to steering the discussion rather thanexchanging ideas about possible ways to solve the tasks. Further, the results of this study suggestthat if the process of socially shared metacognition emerges, then the most of students will be ableto reduce their feelings of difficulty. The results of this study suggest that socially sharedmetacognition is a complex and extra-ordinary group-level phenomenon. Socially sharedmetacognition could become more visible if participants focus on analysing the task and verifyingthe process as well as the outcome of the problem solving instead of exploring and implementingvarious unelaborated solution efforts. While socially shared metacognition fosters success ingroup problem solving, it also helps individual’s thinking grow as a part of the group.
