Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

On The Benefits Of Seeking (And Avoiding) Help In Online Problem-Solving Environments, Ryan Baker, Ido Roll, Vincent Aleven, Kenneth Koedinger

Ryan S.J.d. Baker

Seeking the!right!level!of!help!at!the!right!time!can!support!learning.! However,!in!the!context!of!online!problem=solving!environments,!it!is!still!not! entirely!clear!which!help=seeking!strategies!are!desired.!We!use!fine=grained data! from!38!high=school!students!who!worked!with!the!Geometry!Cognitive!Tutor!for! two!months to!better!understand!the!associations!between!specific!help=seeking! patterns!and!learning.!We evaluate how!students’!help=seeking!behaviours!on!each! step!in!a!tutored!problem!are associated!with their!success!on!subsequent!steps that! require!the!same!skills.!Analysing!learning!at!the!skill level!allows!us to!compare! different!help=seeking!patterns!within!a!single!student,!controlling!for!between= student!variations.!Overall,!asking!for!help!on!challenging!steps is!associated!with! productive!learning, and!overusing!help!is!associated!with!poorer!learning. However,!contrary!to!many help=seeking!theories,!avoiding!help (and!failing repeatedly)!is!associated!with!better learning!than!seeking!help on!steps!for!which! students!have!low!prior!knowledge.!These!results!suggest!that!novice!learners!may! benefit!from!engaging!in!solution!attempts before!they!can!make!sense!of!given! assistance. Methodological!benefits!for!using!local!measures!of!learning!are! discussed!and!comparisons!are!drawn!to!other!forms!of!Productive!Failure!in! problem=solving.!