Interactive Multimedia Collaborative Strategies Employed by Upper Primary School Students: A Case Study

This case study examines the collaborative problem-solving characteristics employed by some upper primary school students during their construction of an interactive multimedia project. The study is set within the constructivist paradigm where students construct their learning and build on their knowledge as their project progresses. The evaluation of the study was also set within the constructivist paradigm, using Fourth Generation Evaluation (4GE) (Guba & Lincoln, 1989). Two groups of students included four students from Year 5 who produced a module on whales, and four from Year 6 who produced a module on dogs. Both groups had access to Authorware 4, Microsoft Word, Works 4 and Photoshop. Six of the students were able to transfer strategies for problem- solving and utilise them while working on multimedia programs. This confirmed that positive transference had taken place for students while working with multimedia programs. Based on the findings it is recommended that problem-solving strategies be provided for multimedia students in primary schools.