Structured affordances in the use of open-ended tasks to facilitate collaborative problem solving

Abstract

Contemporary curriculum demands the development of both problem solving skills and negotiative skills required for collaborative group work. Tasks are required that create the best possible conditions for students to develop both of these skill sets. Open-ended tasks have been shown to provide these conditions, but they also require the teacher to relinquish some level of control over student activity, since the open-endedness of the tasks provides students with the opportunity to realize their intentions rather than just the teacher’s. It is necessary to investigate the nature of the affordances created by the use of open-ended tasks in order to anticipate how they might best be used for bo..