Abstracts - Earli

perspective on learning (Wertsch, 1991; 1998; Säljß, 2000; 2005). This means that language isregarded as a collective tool for understanding and interacting with the world. Wittgenstein’s(1980) concept language game; Bakhtin’s (1981; 1974/1986) concept utterances and Goffman’s(1959/1974) concepts team and face-work are used as analytical tools. The language is seen asdialogical and the student collective is seen as a team; while they are solving the math problem,their "face" become important in a learning game. The setting is an upper secondary school wherestudents work with educational software and the research questions addressed is: How do studentsnegotiate their understanding of central concepts when they are solving computer supportedproblems? The results show a negotiation strategy (a language game), in which geometricalconcepts and calculations are formed in the interaction by the computer. This strategy is herenamed conceptual negotiation. In the negotiation not only different intentions, but also differentconceptual experiences meet, embedded in a mutual language. Conceptual negotiation can be seenas an expression for students helping each other to turn geometrical concepts over in their minds,in a way that will help them understand the meaning of the concepts through support from eachother and through the interaction that the educational software offers. This way they createknowledge in geometry. It is obvious that the digital environment gives another dimension for thestudents’ way of learning mathematical concepts.The effect of strategic and conceptual scaffolding in graduate students’ well-structured and illstructuredproblem-solvingIolie Nicolaidou, Concordia University, CanadaRichard Schmid, Concordia University, CanadaChristiana Nicolaou, University of Cyprus, CyprusThis study explores the effectiveness of technology-supported scaffolding for problem-solving. Itfocuses on the effectiveness of strategic and conceptual scaffolding for solving well-structuredproblems (WSP) and ill-structured problems (ISP), respectively, as well as the effect of priorknowledge. Participants were 45 graduate students enrolled in a Research Methods course at alarge Canadian university (2005-06). Their access to online scaffolding was monitored both in andoutside class. The effect of strategic scaffolding on well-structured problem solving was minimal.However, there was strong indication that increased use of conceptual scaffolding resulted inlearners’ better performance in ill-structured problems (F(1, 39) = 8.44, pDesign & evaluation of a CSCL activity for the upper elementary grades: Results from a threeyeardesign research projectIlias Karasavvidis, University of Thessaly, GreeceWhile CSCL has attracted considerable attention over the past few years, research shows thattraditional teaching practices cannot be easily translated into CSCL practices. Successful CSCLrequires new tasks and activities and there have been calls for the development of such activities.The study reported in this paper aimed at the development and validation of a CSCL activityfollowing a design experiment approach. The present paper focuses on the evaluation results of adesign cycle and more particularly on the quality of communication. The study conductedinvolved three design cycles each of which was realized as a separate, year-long instructionalsequence. The author acted both as teacher and researcher for each sequence which spanned over35 weeks comprising 30 typical 45 minute sessions. 123 5th and 6th graders participated in thefirst cycle, 89 6th graders in the second cycle, and 136 6th graders in the third cycle. The CSCLactivity used in the three cycles involved the technology-mediated, collaborative creation of anelectronic newspaper by students from two remote elementary schools. The measures included (a)– 571 –