Emergent Learning : Peer collaboration and learning in user driven environments

Abstract: The purpose of this project is to examine how collaboration in groups of children change from a face-to-face emergent environment to a computer mediated emergent environment. To examine this, a methodology was devised in order to track individual group members‟ contributions to exercises performed by the group. Groups of five children built structures out of LEGOs and in the game Minecraft, and through the devised tracking method, data from the different exercises were juxtaposed with each other and compared in order to determine how the collaborative patterns within the groups varied depending on what exercise they were partaking in. The results of this research is that the computer based emergent system was experienced as more engaging and immersive, and that it fostered continuous discovery and problem solving throughout the game session, which wasn‟t the case in the LEGO exercise.