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Social interactions and cognitive effects in contexts of area-comparison problem solving

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Abstract

The paper we present is a case study which has two objectives: the identification of the interactions between pairs of 16 and17-year-old students related to problem solving and the influence of such interactions in their cognitive development. To achieve these aims, we consider problems associated with a definite conceptual structure – problems comparing flat surface areas –, and we focus the analysis of the interactions on the point of view of the thematic and interlocutive dimensions of the discourse. Such analysis has allowed us to identify a wide typology of exchanges, and, from this, to outline four models of interaction -alternative, guided, relaunching, and co-operative. In the cases analysed, these interactions significantly influence the individual development of cognitive and heuristic abilities in the problem solving process.

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Cobo, P., Fortuny, J.M. Social interactions and cognitive effects in contexts of area-comparison problem solving. Educational Studies in Mathematics 42, 115–140 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004187711956

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