Productive failure: student groups who score lower on individual post-tests may have experienced deeper learning leading to superior future performance¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · causal r? · q2
Currency · newest study 2011 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Groups given ill-structured physics problems had lower solution rates but gained experiences that helped them with later problems. → Gerry Stahl & Friedrich Hesse 2011 q2 i? Student groups who score lower on individual post-tests may have experienced deeper learning, such as developing more abstract conceptualizations. → Gerry Stahl & Friedrich Hesse 2011 (2)

Evidence¶

Gerry Stahl & Friedrich Hesse 2011¶

Gerry Stahl & Friedrich Hesse. (2011). CSCL in Asia. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning 6:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-011-9112-1

q2 · i? · causal · r?

A qualitative study by Pathak, Kim, Jacobson, and Zhang at the Singapore Learning Sciences Lab set up productive failure by giving some groups well-structured and others ill-structured physics problems, analyzing interactions qualitatively.

"Since the ill-structured problems were more challenging, the groups with them had lower rates of solution, but gained experiences that helped them with later problems."

Gerry Stahl & Friedrich Hesse 2011 (2)¶

Gerry Stahl & Friedrich Hesse. (2011). CSCL in Asia. Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning 6:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-011-9112-1

q2 · i? · review · r1

The editorial defines productive failure as one of the most interesting findings from CSCL research, citing prior quantitative studies (Barron 2003; Kapur and Kinzer 2009; Schwartz 1995) that demonstrated the phenomenon.

"Productive failure is the finding that student groups who score lower on individual post-tests may have actually experienced deeper learning (such as developing more abstract conceptualizations) that could eventually lead to superior performance in the future."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Collaborative group failure on ill-structured physics problems confers later individual problem-solving advantages over success on well-structured problems (productive failure) — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Productive Failure Improves Conceptual Learning — a broader claim this one bears on
• Invention Tasks Prepare Future Learning — related
• The manipulation worked as intended: I-PS students largely succeeded on the problem-solving sheets while PS-I students largely failed — related