2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This theory paper discusses the role of knowledge-based symmetry on engineering students’ potential to collaborate through the theories of co-construction and co-regulation. Engineering education programs have increasingly incorporated group work in response to the growing understanding that engineering in the workplace requires the ability to work in teams. Further, research shows that in a collaborative environment, effective groups are “greater than the sum of their parts”. That is, students working toward a common goal in well-designed groups can produce greater final products than students working individually. What determines a well-designed group then becomes the challenge to address for educators moving forward. Some design features across groups such as time to develop and overall task (e.g., project-based learning groups, problem-based learning, informal studying) are largely based on the course goals and resources. After these decisions, however, educators may further determine how students vary within groups according to traits such as students’ personalities, friendships, and knowledge levels. To date, research in engineering education has shown an increased interest in the results of grouping or mixing students according to these individual traits.
Seeking generalizable definitions of well-designed groups according students’ traits, meta-analyses of STEM students’ group work have consistently observed some beneficial group designs such as optimal group sizes (three to five students). However, these analyses have produced mixed results when the researchers considered students grouped by knowledge level. One review identified that overall, low-ability groups have a lower effect (overall negative d) and high to medium ability groups have a higher effect (overall positive d). This finding mirrors the “rich club” phenomena observed when some students self-select groups. To contrast these findings, recent researchers have observed positive effects across all knowledge groups achieved through higher scaffolding for the low-ability groups, made available due to the relative decrease in scaffolding necessary for the high knowledge groups. This varied state of findings and interventions in the literature illustrates a need for engineering educators to better understand how knowledge level and context may affect students’ potential for collaborative work.
To approach this understanding, this paper discusses through cognitive theories how knowledge-based symmetry may impact students’ potential to effectively collaborate. To begin framing this discussion, this paper elaborates co-construction from the general extension of constructivist theories to a jointly constructed “solution space” between two or more individuals. Further, this paper elaborates co-regulation from the general idea of self-regulatory processes shared between two or more individuals. Finally, this paper identifies effective collaboration as students working toward a common goal with high levels of symmetric co-regulation and co-construction. After reviewing these theories, this paper discusses how the knowledge-based symmetry across two or more students in a group mediates the potential for co-construction, co-regulation, and resulting collaboration. Finally, this paper discusses some practical implications for symmetrical groupings and asymmetrical groupings. The purpose of this paper is to encourage engineering education practitioners and researchers to consider these knowledge-based aspects of group designs in the context of their goals, prior to implementing in curricula or studies.
Keywords: collaborative learning, instructional design, mutual learning models