This paper will discuss a framework and methodology for understanding the use of computers in collaborative learning. In particular, we are interested in how learning occurs when students work together using a computer microworld.
Collaborative settings provide a particularly rich environment for studying learning.
In a collaborative setting, students communicate their ideas in order to coordinate their activity towards shared goals. The Envisioning Machine presents students with an interactive graphical simulation of the Newtonian concepts of velocity and acceleration. This graphical model was intended to be an externalization of the mental models that physicists use when solving problems. Originally we thought that by manipulating and observing graphical objects on the computer screen, students would internalize correct Newtonian models of velocity and acceleration. However, our observations of pairs of students interacting with the Envisioning Machine has lead us to adopt an alternate view.