Collaborative group failure on ill-structured physics problems confers later individual problem-solving advantages over success on well-structured problems (productive failure)¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · theoretical r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2008 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Indian high school students who were in groups that failed to solve ill-structured physics problems later outperformed students who had been in groups that succeeded in solving well-structured problems. → Gerry Stahl 2008

Evidence¶

Gerry Stahl 2008¶

Gerry Stahl. (2008). Yes we can! Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11412-008-9055-3

q2 · i? · theoretical · r2

The editorial reports Kapur and Kinzer's confirmation of their earlier productive-failure finding, described as resulting from extensive data analysis: group failure on ill-structured physics problems "later outperformed students who had been in groups that succeeded" on well-structured ones.

"They confirm their earlier finding that Indian high school students who were in groups that failed to solve ill-structured physics problems later outperformed students who had been in groups that succeeded in solving well-structured problems."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Problem Solving — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• The manipulation worked as intended: I-PS students largely succeeded on the problem-solving sheets while PS-I students largely failed — related
• Productive failure students significantly outperformed lecture-practice and facilitated complex problem solving students on well-structured and higher-order application post-test problems — related
• Productive failure: student groups who score lower on individual post-tests may have experienced deeper learning leading to superior future performance — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Productive Failure Improves Conceptual Learning — a broader claim this one bears on
• The teacher-conference problem met the sweet spot of complexity: 10th graders generated solution ideas containing the targeted errors without solving the problem canonically — related
• Collaborative situations often fail to be productive in practice, so orchestrating collaboration is not simple — related
• Teams that coordinate, communicate, and document intermediate results solve EER problems more successfully — related