CSCL in STEM Education: Preliminary Findings from a Meta-Analysis

The goal of this paper is to report on the preliminary findings about the effects of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) in STEM education. A statistical meta-analysis was conducted to synthesize research findings published from 2005 and 2014. A preliminary findings based on 198 outcomes from 80 studies indicated an overall effect size of .53, a moderate but nonetheless impressive effect size in educational research. Although not all significant, effects of CSCL varied across a number of moderator variables such as types of technology, learner levels, and study settings. The analyses are ongoing, but the findings clearly demonstrate the benefit of CSCL in STEM education. Further examinations are underway in order to understand the conditions under which CSCL is most effective.