Exploring the impact of students’ social and cognitive skills on online Collaborative Problem Solving: empirical evidence from neuroscience

Collaborative Problem Solving (CPS) is a multifaceted process where students with strong social and cognitive skills tend to excel. However, improving these skills requires an in-depth understanding of the relationship between skills and students' internal state of mind. It is difficult to assess a student's state of mind based on external cues like facial expressions, speech and behaviour, as these can be easily disguised. This study used a portable EEG device to measure brainwave signals during online CPS tasks, focusing on variations in brain activity using the Approximate Entropy (ApEn) metric to understand why students with high CPS skills perform better. Seventy-two undergraduates participated, with their brainwaves continuously recorded during CPS activities. The findings showed distinct brainwave patterns among students with different social and cognitive skills. Notably, brain activity was heightened during the problem-solving stage compared to the conceptualisation stage. Students with higher social skills showed significant activity in the alpha (inspiration), beta (decision-making) and gamma (creative thinking) bands, while those with stronger cognitive skills primarily activated the alpha band. These results highlight the need to tailor online CPS activities to effectively support students' development in both social and cognitive domains.