#713: From Initiative to Impact: Modeling How Collaborative Initiative Shapes Problem-Solving in STEM Simulations

This study examines how collaborative learning unfolds in HoloOrbits, a WebGL-based computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment designed to teach planetary motion. Using Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA), we analyzed how students initiated (collaborative intiative; CI) and responded to one another’s contributions (uptake; UP) during group inquiry. We found most initiatives were procedural, focusing on planning, clarification, and task management, while adaptive and idea-generating initiatives occurred less frequently. Groups where students’ contributions were taken up and extended by peers engaged in more sustained, collective reasoning; whereas others showed more confirmatory or fragmented discourse. These findings position collaborative initiative as a relational construct, with value that lies not in the correctness of individual contributions but in how peer responses take up and build on them to support collective sensemaking. The study underscores the importance of designing CSCL environments that scaffold both student agency and responsiveness, enabling individual contributions to become shared understanding.