Eighth-grade students defining complex problems: The effectiveness of scaffolding in a multimedia program

Abstract

This pilot study investigated the effectiveness of a multimedia learning environment called Pollution Solution on eighth-grade students’ ability to define a complex problem. Sixty students from four earth science classes taught by the same teacher in a New York City public school were included in the sample for this study. The classes were randomly assigned to one of four comparison groups who each received different treatments of the software. The different treatments included varying types of scaffolding to help the students define the problem. The preliminary findings indicated that the organization scaffold was most effective in helping students to understand the problem, develop hypotheses, and ask more specific questions inside the problem domain. The higher-order thinking scaffold was most effective at helping students grasp the multiple perspectives of the problem. However, the combined scaffolding did not do as well as these scaffolds did individually. Further research needs to be done to determine if this was due to lack of time or some other issue.