Patterns of Physics Reasoning in Face-to-Face and Online Forum Collaboration Around a Digital Game

Students playing digital learning games in the classroom rarely play alone, even in digital games that are
ostensibly “single-player” games. This study explores the patterns of physics reasoning that emerge in face-toface
and online forum collaboration while students play a physics-focused educational game in their classroom.
We observed five increasing levels of explicit articulation of physics reasoning across interactions in the face-toface
and online forum interactions. Additionally, we found that students were much more likely to explicitly
articulate formal physics reasoning in their online forum interactions than they were in their face-to-face
interactions. We discuss multiple possible explanations for these patterns of articulation in terms of differences
in timing of interactions, affordances of medium, classroom scripts, and social norms. The findings and
discussion extend our understanding of the structuring and contributions of peer interactions to student learning
in digital learning environments in the classroom.