1: Studies of Problem Solving, Judgment, and Decision Making: Implications for Educational Research

Abstract

Bruner (1971) quotes an aphorism he attributes to the English Platonist Weldon. It is apt as a prolegomenon to this chapter: . . there are three kinds of things in the world: there are troubles which we do not know quite how to handle; then there are puzzles with their clear conditions and unique solutions, marvelously elegant; and then there are problems-and these we invent by finding an appropriate form to impose upon a trouble (p. 104). Educational researchers attack problems for which convenient exist. As evidence for this assertion, witness the continuing preoccupation with studies of paired-associate learning, adjunct questions, learning hierarchies, and social-class differences in intelligence and achievement. Research typically slights the of how teachers think about their pupils and instructional problems; it concentrates instead on how teachers act or perform in the classroom. It is our hope that by providing a number of puzzle forms for the study of individual judgment and solving, we can make it possible for more of our colleagues to pursue educational research in these areas. In this chapter we shall review representative studies and theoretical proposals on thinking, human and making. Since judgment, decision making, and problem solving are used in so many ways, the scope of our treatment will be outlined here. First, the focus will be mostly