Problem-Solving Strategies

Abstract

Two groups of children in sixth grade were given three tasks: memory for a set of 24 pictures, Olson's Buttonboard task, and 20 Questions. The two groups were both Australian, one group with Australian parents, the other with parents who were Greek immigrants. All children were drawn from the same classrooms. Nonetheless, some differences appeared on the Buttonboard task, differences that disappeared under explicit instructions to minimize the number of moves. Differences also appeared in the use of grouping or clustering-type queries on 20 Questions, differences that did not disappear with instructions to minimize moves. The results point to the importance of specific strategies on problem-solving tasks and to the importance, in cross-cultural comparisons, of shared understandings about the value and appropriateness of specific strategies.