Dialogues in support of qualitative reasoning

Abstract Do students always interact with computers reflectively on tasks and improve qualitative reasoning? It seems that students often manipulate software without changing existing conceptions or exploring the implications of their conceptions to generate deeper explanations. This undermines the educational value of such interactions — though dialogue with a peer or adult can make the interaction more valuable. However, it is uncertain when and how such dialogues work. If high quality educational interactions with computers are to take place, then it is necessary to understand the situations in which particular dialogue forms are effective and to find ways of modelling these. In this paper a framework for the design of such interactions is proposed based on a dialogue analysis that employs transactional analysis and logical dialogue game theory. The framework is applied to a medical (simulation-based) learning context to illustrate how it may enhance interactions with such systems.