Abstracts - Earli

to foster deep and meaningful learning. Moreover, contemporary scholars assume that thebeneficial effects of learner-generated representations can be increased, if they are combined withcollaborative forms of learning. To further investigate these suggestions within the domain ofeconomics and business education, an experimental study with 169 business school students wasconducted. In this study, cognitive achievements of subjects from three treatment groups (text plusexperimenter-provided graphic group; individually mapping group, and collaboratively mappinggroup) were contrasted. The results of this study indicate that learner-generated graphicalrepresentations are of specific use for promoting long-term retention of central text ideas, and thattheir collaborative generation is particularly effective with respect to accuracy and elaboration ofnewly acquired knowledge. Furthermore, the collaborative learning setting is most profitable forstudents who can be considered as low-achievers in terms of prior economic knowledge.Supporting collaborative learning with multiple external representationsDaniel Bodemer, University of Tübingen, GermanyResearch on external representations mainly focuses on the support of either individual orcollaborative learning processes. However, when external representations or representational toolsare used to encourage understanding in collaborative learning settings, several interacting factorshave to be considered. Therefore, two versions of a tool are developed that is designed to combinethe advantages of implicit collaboration structuring and the support of individual mentalintegration processes during learning with multiple external representations. The two versionsdiffer in (a) how explicitly they support individual mental integration processes and (b) ifcollaboration processes are structured according to representational guidance (representationinherentfeatures are supposed to suggest certain patterns of thinking, communication, andbehavior) or group awareness (certain patterns of thinking, communication, and behavior aresupposed to be suggested by the presentation of information about the learning partner or thegroup) principles. An experimental study is reported that examines the impact of the tool versionson collaborative learning processes and on individual knowledge acquisition. Preliminary resultsindicate that a parallel integration tool that is based on group awareness principles is mostappropriate to consider individual and collaborative learning processes at the same time and thusencourage meaningful learning processes best.Students’ handling of tables and graphs in elementary and secondary schoolEduardo Marti, Universidad de Barcelona, SpainMerce Garcia-Mila, Universidad de Barcelona, SpainFernando Gabucio, Universidad de Barcelona, SpainTables and Graphs are semiotic tools frequently used to represent complex information. Manyscience and mathematics school problems require the understanding and production of Tables andGraphs. These representational formats are commonly supposed to be transparent ways oftransmitting information and consequently, they are not associated to the need to be taughtexplicitly. Contrary to this view, we claim that Tables and Graphs, as any format of representation(representational format), impose a set of semiotic and cognitive constraints that must beappropriated by our students to understand and use them adequately. The aim of the present studyis to analyze the way primary and secondary school students (11- to 15-year olds) understand andproduce Tables and Graphs. Each participant is required to a) build a Table from a list of data(concerning the heights of a students’ sample) and a Graph from a Table; and b) interpret a Tableand a Graph answering a set of multiple choice questions (with the data concerning the student’sweights). Results show that the strategies to adequately produce Tables and Graphs improve with– 712 –