Scaffolding peer collaborative problem solving: a qualitative systematic review

Abstract

Peer Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) can positively influence learning and development, in different domains and at different levels of education. Studying collaboration among adolescents is relevant for educational practice since it helps identify the conditions under which collaboration might be productive as well as the ways teachers could support students’ CPS in education. The aim of this systematic review was to identify and systematize research findings on training and scaffolding modalities enabling adolescents to engage in productive CPS. Following PRISMA guidelines we searched PsycInfo, WoS and ERIC databases and selected 5256 published abstracts in English. Six researchers screened the titles and abstracts of all identified papers (2 researchers per abstract) and selected 160 fully published papers for reflexive thematic analyses. Among 160 selected papers, there were 110 provided data on adult scaffolding or the contribution of teacher/researcher support. The results revealed that the quality of cooperation training itself was described in 17 papers (15.4%), while scaffolding was a much more common topic in the selected research (N = 78; 70.9%). We also selected papers that included both training and scaffolding (N = 13; 11.8%). Regarding the impact of this kind of support on collaborative problem solving, the majority of published papers reported positive effects (N = 60, 53.6%) and only a few of them found its effects to be negative (N = 7, 6.3%). The remaining 44 papers (40%) did not analyse an impact of training or scaffolding. Our thematic analyses found that in efforts to contribute to successful CPS, adults (teachers/researchers) can moderate peer interaction in three ways, by focusing on either cognitive processes (N = 82; 75%), group discussions (N = 73; 66%), or classroom management (N = 23; 21%). All characteristics that emerged in this review will be discussed and concluding remarks will be focused on educational implications.