Exploring the interactive effects of task complexity and metacognitive scaffolding on students’ performance in collaborative programming

Abstract

Although metacognitive scaffolding is recognized as an effective strategy to enhance collaborative programming learning, its effectiveness may vary with task complexity. This quasi-experimental study examined the differential effects of metacognitive scaffolding across programming tasks of low, medium, and high complexity, involving 195 seventh-grade students from a Taiwanese junior high school (experimental group: 97; control group: 98). A 3 (task complexity: low, medium, high) × 2 (metacognitive scaffolding: with vs. without) mixed-factorial design was employed. The results revealed a significant interaction between task complexity and metacognitive scaffolding on students’ computational thinking tendency and learning motivation, with the scaffolding effects becoming more pronounced as task complexity increased. No significant interaction effects were found for metacognitive awareness or programming learning achievement. These findings suggest that teachers should adjust metacognitive scaffolding intensity according to task complexity and leverage challenging tasks to promote students’ higher-order thinking in collaborative programming.