Chapter 15 page 369
Figure 15.5 Characteristics of complex tasks that promote core processes of effective collaborative
learning
- To complete the tasks, students must use multiple strategies and
diverse knowledge - The tasks are challenging and open-ended.
- To solve the tasks, students must consider multiple sources of
information and must conduct various types of investigations. - Students produce public artifacts.
Characteristic #3. Effective complex tasks invite students to consider multiple sources of
information and to conduct various types of investigations (Cohen, 1994a; J. Krajcik, Blumenfeld, Marx,
Bass, & Fredricks, 1998). Students investigating why a tree on the school grounds is dying will need to
investigate the question using many different sources of information, such as: library books on trees and
diseases, information from websites, certain chapters in textbooks, encyclopedia entries, and /or inquiries to
government offices. Students might also observe the tree and compare it to similar healthy trees on the
grounds to determine what about the tree is unhealthy and where the source of the problem might be. To
help make that determination, the student might design some experiments to glean more information (Olson
& Loucks-Horsley, 2000). Having a variety of activities, including hands-on investigations, is motivating
to students and encourages them to use deeper learning strategies (Guthrie et al., 2004).
Characteristic #4. Many researchers who advocate complex tasks recommend that groups of
students produce public artifacts (Cohen, 1994a; Herrenkohl & Guerra, 1998; Lehrer, 1993). Public
artifacts are artifacts that students make public. For example, teachers might have students produce
hypermedia presentations that summarize what they have learned in a project investigating clothing worn
during the Civil War (Lehrer, 1993). Students present to other members of the class. Kindergarteners fill
the room with posters and other information for their “travel agency” and invite parents and others in the
community to come and see what they have done. High school students prepare a multimedia presentation
to persuade a corporation to locate their headquarters in their town; they share their presentation with the
town’s chamber of commerce. Elementary school students make a scientific presentation at a “conference”
in which two classes come together to present the results of their research.
Public artifacts promote engagement by giving students a real audience to present to. The artifacts
help focus students’ attention jointly on a product that they will produce. Because it is public, they will be
more likely to hold themselves to high standards. They will be more likely to critique work that is not up to
these standards. They will be motivated to engage in the high-quality cognitive strategies needed to produce
a product of which they can be proud.
How complex tasks promote core processes. By recommending complex, open-ended tasks,
researchers are trying to foster positive interdependence. The tasks are designed to be intrinsically