Chemistry students often learn to solve problems algorithmically, applying well-practiced procedures to problems. Such an approach may hinder development of conceptual understanding. We propose to promote conceptual learning by having pairs of students collaborate on problems in a virtual laboratory (VLab), assisted by a computer-mediated collaboration script that guides the students through the stages of scientific experimentation by adapting to a particular student's (or dyad's) skills. In this paper, we report on our early steps toward this goal, including technology development and an initial wizard-of-oz study.
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