The effects of reflective prompts and collaborative learning in hypermedia problem-based learning environments on problem solving and metacognitive skills

This study was designed to determine what effects reflective prompting and collaborative learning have on students’ problem solving within a computer-based environment and the development and transfer of their problem solving and metacognitive skills. Participants in this study included 298 female college students, who completed the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory, MAI. Then, participants worked either individually or collaboratively through a computer-based problem solving challenge presented in the program, Alien Rescue. They received metacognitive prompts, transfer prompts, both prompts, or no prompts while they worked. Approximately one week later, students completed a near and far transfer task and completed the MAI for a second time. viii Results revealed that there was not a significant main effect of reflective prompting or collaborative learning or an interaction effect on any of the dependent variables: problem solving performance on the task at hand, near transfer task performance, far transfer task performance, and performance on the MAI taken at the end of the study. Reasons for these findings are discussed along with implications for future research.