Students’ Help Seeking During Problem Solving: Effects of Grade, Goal, and Prior Achievement

Abstract

We investigated the types of help that students request while solving math problems under the tutelage of an adult. One hundred eighteen third and sixth graders, classified as high, medium, and low math achievers and working under one of two academic goal conditions (i.e., either learning or performance goals), were asked to solve inductive reasoning problems. Students were encouraged to request whatever information they felt they needed. We found that sixth graders, in comparison with third graders, were more likely to ask for process-related hints and less likely simply to ask for the answer or express a vague lack of understanding. Students given learning goals, in comparison with those given performance goals, were more likely to request confirmation of an answer and less likely to show maladaptive patterns of questioning. Performance goals had a strong, detrimental effect on the number of problems that low achievers solved. Relations among goals, prior math achievement, help seeking, and problem-solving performance were examined.