Functions of Participants in the Collaborative Solution of Thinking Problems

The article presents the results of an empirical study of the collaborative solution of thinking problems by groups of students. The study was conducted in the context of educational activities when students solve educational problems. The student group was divided into subgroups of four people; each subgroup was given a learning task. In accordance with the author’s ideas, collaborative thinking is carried out through the implementation of the following functions: generation, selection, meaning transfer, implementation. These functions are distributed among participants in collaborative problem solving. The purpose of the study was to study the distribution of functions when students collaboratively solve thinking problems. To study the distribution of functions, the author used a questionnaire to determine the distribution of functions between students. The author has shown that in the process of collaborative problem solving, functions are distributed among the participants. It is revealed that in the processes of collaborative solution of thinking tasks, each group of students has a unique combination of functions, which the author defines as the group’s thinking style.