Abstract
This article presents an empirical study of teacher students learning through collaborative projects in small project groups, involving the co-construction of knowledge objects. The aim is to understand how knowledge objects emerge through studentsʼ interaction, how they develop through iterative co-elaboration, and how they enhance the learning process. We analyzed the activities of three student groups participating in collaborative projects that required them to solve complex, open-ended problems and to construct knowledge objects as solutions. Interaction data and knowledge objects were analyzed through qualitative methods, with a focus on the types of interaction, the uptake of ideas and concepts, and their co-elaboration. The results reveal that interaction of an epistemic nature, the strategic uptake of concepts, the elaborations based on shared insights and constructive feedback are the most important aspects for a successful co-construction process. Three trajectories of interaction and work on knowledge objects became visible, with only one of the three groups functioning as per the aforementioned principles and constructing knowledge objects with high integrative complexity. The study illustrates the relationship between the studentsʼ social interaction and object construction and elaboration, and allows for a more sophisticated understanding of how joint work on knowledge objects facilitates learning.