An exploratory study of middle school students' sensemaking in a collaborative game design educational project

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand collaborative sensemaking processes among middle school students in a discovery based hybrid e-learning environment. Our exploratory study reports interview findings on student experiences, and contributes to our ongoing investigation of this complex social learning system. This paper is also an effort to extend the understanding of Dervin's (1992) sensemaking model to incorporate collaborative knowledge building and associated information behaviors. Our preliminary findings identify and discuss several situations, gaps and collaborative sensemaking strategies.