Collaborative Problem Solving Instructional Blueprint
Topic:
Learning Objectives:
Problem solving requires a well defined set of users who have
Based on the experience accumulated over the course of this
contracted for either an ill defined product which must perform a exercise, learners will be able to describe the detailed process of:
specific function (e.g., “We need another way to extract
communicating the project scope to possible consultants,
helium.”), or a well defined goal with an ill defined path (e.g.,
choosing consultants (or projects, if one is acting as a consultant),
“We need to improve this helium recovery system by five per
defining needs of and gathering initial input from contributors,
cent.”). These are in opposition to both Horst Rittel’s definition of assigning work equitably according to expertise and as agreed to
wicked problems (those having unforeseeable consequences,
by all parties, documentation of progress and dissemination
undefined goals and unknown function), and design as an openamong all parties (including assessment methods and intervals),
ended process without a defined terminus. Here problem solving
assembly of the final presentation, and reflection on how well the
requires the organization of input from multiple contributors.
work conformed to the plan, and what could have been changed.
Audience:
Classification of Objective:
As in an authentic corporate context, high school student groups
There will be iterative analysis of information for which one has
of three or four would work together for a semester of from
agreed to be responsible, in order to participate in planning
fourteen to eighteen weeks (Nelson, p. 250, recommends small
(communication) and charting the course (evaluation) of a project
groups for extended periods). All learners would contribute to
incorporating the analyses, communications, and evaluations of
multiple projects in various capacities over the years spent in high other participants (Bloom, 1956).
school. It is not necessary to look for (or, perhaps, cultivate)
similar traits beyond those defined by Nelson (p. 248):
 self-directed, willing to be responsible for their own learning
 comfortable with an unfamiliar shift in the instructor’s role
 intrinsically motivated to learn, activated by problem solving.
Applied Instructional Theory:
Nelson, L. M. (1999). Collaborative problem solving. In C. Reigeluth (Ed.), Instructional-design theories and models: A new
paradigm of instructional theory (Vol. 2, pp. 241-267). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Reigeluth, C. (1999). The elaboration theory: Guidance for scope and sequence decisions. In C. Reigeluth (Ed.), Instructional-design
theories and models: A new paradigm of instructional theory (Vol. 2, pp. 425-453). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.
Page 1 of 6
From the ID theory –we understand that Strategy:
learning occurs when:
Knowledge is transferred or generated
Make school just like work. Once we
within a group:
know what corporations want, we can
update how we train our students to
make them employable. How we do this
while utilizing tasks with no predictable
outcome requires a learning
environment that encourages
experimentation (in the charge of a
flexible, tolerant instructor, per Nelson,
p. 249, acting as a project advisor).
 Nelson (p. 247) refers to Reigeluth’s
definition of heuristic tasks (covered
under Elaboration Theory, p. 444), and
posits that Collaborative Problem
Solving (CPS) is better suited to
heuristic than to procedural or content
focussed tasks.
 It should be noted here that by
 Developing conceptual understanding
entertaining this notion of instruction,
should involve either concurrent
we are in danger of merely keeping
development of schema or assimilation
pace with a current commercial trend,
of new knowledge into existing
that of arming the so-called knowledge
schemata (Nelson, p. 247).
workers of the near future to participate
in their information revolution. Is this
generating knowledge or simply
transferring what we already have?
Page 2 of 6
Tactic:
While Nelson (p. 249) advises that the
variety of possible learning contexts
must be individually addressed as to
instructor participation, general
recommendations are still possible:

Following the prescriptive nature of
this instruction blindly does little to
encourage the research and
experimentation necessary for the next
advance beyond this latest
manifestation of vocationalization in
education. And this is not a novel
concern; see Thorstein Veblen’s The
higher learning In America: A
memorandum on the conduct of
universities by business men, 1918.
Provide comprehensive procedural
guidelines to apply throughout the
instruction, characterized by these
methods (Nelson, p. 249):
 instructor implemented (pp. 250-252)



instructor-and-learner implemented
(pp. 252-254)


Page 3 of 6
Instructors propose (as a model for
typical project scale and scope), or
allow students to propose, projects that
demonstrate an interrelationship among
subjects with which they have, or
would like to have, some experience.
Acting as a resource for instruction
(when requested), facilitating project
meetings, and ensuring the
appropriateness of a learning
environment to a project’s activities
seem to be the main duties earmarked
for the instructor alone.
Once their projects have been approved
by the relevant faculty with expertise in
the subject matter (and by the project
advisor, with regard to meeting and
progress schedules), student project
managers would then assemble their
project teams.
Assessment and evaluation might be
facilitated by comparison of project
progress with pre-arranged schedules,
but projects don’t always go as
smoothly as we would like. So the
opportunity to invent alternative

The good news is that transferring
some of the responsibility for
determining what needs to be learned,
from administration to learner, is more
of an authentic situation and similar to
what learners will encounter outside of
school, which involves more than
work.

learner implemented (p. 252)


interactive (pp. 254-256, where the
importance of interdependence among
team members is stressed such that
none can succeed unless all do)

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assessments should be anticipated by
both students and instructors.
These are the enjoyment-sapping
activities of budgeting and tracking
that make work, well, work (as
opposed to fun). Students should first
determine what subject matter areas
their projects will address, and whether
or not resources are available among
their fellows that will represent these
areas. Some public school districts
require community service time for
credit, and that is one avenue of pursuit
(similar to an Eagle Scout project or
that for a Girl Scout Gold Award, say).
This is the fundament of CPS. The
project advisor or manager must
arrange opportunities for all
participants to engage in interactive
and cooperative approaches to problem
analysis, definition of the solution
space (criteria of a successful solution),
the path to at least one solution, and the
execution of that path. As an example,
if it appeared that mechanical
engineering were required at some
step, then the project manager might
request a visit to such an office for the
team.
As the occasion arises, instructor must
introduce process activities (p. 256):
 readiness to engage in collaborative
work (p. 257)
 forming of a group, development of
identity as a group, and agreement on
comprehensive guidelines







preliminary definition, as a group, of
problem (Nelson, p. 260)
group assigns administrative roles
necessary to document problem
analysis and record progress (Nelson,
p. 261)

iterative CPS process, including
regular reporting on possible individual
contributions (Nelson, pp. 261-264,
Reigeluth, pp. 434-452)
formative evaluation (Nelson, p. 264)
prototype testing (Nelson, p.265)
Page 5 of 6
It might prove helpful to
underclassmen for senior students, who
would have participated in previous
projects, to use their experience in
acting as project managers. Such
experience should help them to pick
the mix of skills necessary for their
projects (it is likely that underclassmen
will get stuck with some drudge work,
but that is also a contribution…
welcome to the world of work, kid), as
well as to referee project meetings.
Project advisor approval of the team
would be required to ensure that
heterogeneity balances with ability
(Nelson, p. 259).
In proposing a problem and recruiting a
team, project managers should have
provided enough information to
potential group members that would be
useful as the basis for this step.
Group members formulate the first
iteration of the “design plan” (as
Nelson calls it, p. 261). Again, much of
the project manager’s preparation
should inform the assignment of tasks
once they are identified in relation to
the proposed solution spaces. Ensuing
refinement of opportunistic solution
paths (and discarding of those proven
unpromising) depends on acquisition
and dissemination of information in
collaboration with the instructor. There
is likely to be a correspondence to at
least one of the elaboration sequences
described by Reigeluth, not only at
every phase of group progress but also
in the individual contribution of each
member to each subsequent reiteration.
Learners reflect on their projects and
how participation has affected their
content knowledge, interactive skills,
and metacognitive strategies (Nelson,
p.265)
Learners bring closure to project by:
 contributing to the criteria of the
instructor’s evaluation or even by
evaluating themselves (Nelson, p. 265)
 arranging a final activity to celebrate
their efforts (Nelson, p. 266)
Page 6 of 6
As a way of debriefing, learners might
present and explain artifacts from their
projects, perhaps by teaching a lesson
on the tradition of inquiry methods
peculiar to their focus.