Collaborative Problem Solving and Discovered Complexity.

Two collaborative groups of senior secondmy mathematics students with similar ability to solve unfamiliar challenging problems demonstrated different· levels of engagement and different levels of conceptual development when they worked with the same task. Study of the nature of task complexity led to the formulation of discovered complexity as a useful tool to analyse student response to tasks. It was found the task undertaken provided the opportunity for discovered complexities that possessed the potential to enhance student learning. Use of such a task was found insufficient to ensure discovered complexity resulted.