Ill-structured Problems Research Articles

A problem-based learning course to teach Brazilian biology students about the viral hepatitis from a health geography perspective

ABSTRACT In this study we designed, implemented, and evaluated a Problem-based Learning (PBL) course to teach undergraduate students about Viral Hepatitis from a Health Geography perspective. The course was attended by undergraduate students with no previous experience with PBL from a college in the Brazilian Amazon state of Acre. The course design was based on a combination of features from different PBL frameworks, allowing the students to gradually switch from a content-centered educational environment to a student-centered one. The PBL unit was based on an ill-structured real-life problem concerning the division of a hypothetical budget among actions to fight Viral Hepatitis in the state’s municipalities. Student problem solutions indicated that they learned basic Viral Hepatitis and Health Geography concepts. Furthermore, perceptions of their own learning demonstrated that students regarded their acquired problem-solving skills and their knowledge of the course subject as their main educational outcomes. We argue that the combination of different PBL frameworks, the gradual transition from lectures to active learning and the social relevance of the course subject to students are among the putative factors that contributed to the course’s success. This study, therefore, provides insights into the design of PBL courses for students inexperienced in active learning.

THE EFFECT OF GIVING ILL-STRUCTURED MATH PROBLEM AND WELL-STRUCTURED MATH PROBLEM ON THE SELF-EFFICACY OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

This study aimed to determine the effect of giving ill-structured problems and well-structured problems to students' self-efficacy. The study population was class VIII students at Junior High School 1 Ngawen Blora which consisted of an experimental class and a control class with the selection of samples using purposive sampling technique. This research is a quantitative research with a comparative problem formulation that compares the increase in self-efficacy between students who are given well-structured math problems and ill-structured math problems. The data analysis technique used was t-test dependent and t-test independent. The results showed that: 1) there is an effect of giving ill-structured math problems on students' self-efficacy at a significant level of 0.05; 2) there isn’t an effect of giving well-structured math problems on students' self-efficacy at a significant level of 0.05; 3) there is a difference in changes in student self-efficacy between giving ill-structured math problems and giving well-structured math problems at a significant level of 0.05

Students’ semantic reasoning characteristics on solving double discount problem

Semantic is associated with the relationship between symbol, reference, and the problem’s context involved in the problem-solving process which also involves reasoning and decision-making. Hence, this study describes the characteristics of students’ semantic reasoning to solve the double discounts problem. 51 high school students in Sidoarjo participated in this qualitative study. The data were collected through 15-20 minutes problem-solving tests. The students' answers were grouped into correct and wrong answers. The correct answers were then regrouped once more based on the strategies used by the students to answer the test and to identify their semantic reasoning characteristics. The data were analyzed by reducing, classifying the think-aloud and observing. Then the similarity of characteristics of students' semantic reasoning when solving the double discount problem was identified. To test the accuracy of the data, triangulation method was used. This semantic reasoning was identified by (1) giving the problem situation, (2) stating the keywords and their meaning, (3) stating the relationship, (4) transforming it into a mathematics statement, (5) calculating based on their strategies, (6) decision making, and (7) completing the answer interpretation. This study contributes to developing basic knowledge in interpreting each process of solving ill-structured problems until finding a solution.

The Effects of Self-Regulated Learning Support on Learners’ Task Performance and Cognitive Load in Computer Programing

This study explores the effect of self-regulated learning support on learners’ cognitive load and problem-solving performance, considering cases from well-structured to ill-structured tasks in a computer programing course. Sixty-seven undergraduate students in a computer programing fundamentals course were randomly assigned into one of two groups: (1) experimental group ( N = 34; received self-regulated learning support) and (2) control group ( N = 33). Participants in both groups were asked to solve programing problems using Python over 3 weeks, and their cognitive load levels were measured after each week. The results showed that novice learners’ self-regulated learning skills can be influenced by learning support, which contributes to solving complex problems. The results also suggest that, given the sequence of tasks (i.e., basic and advanced well-structured and ill-structured problems), self-regulated learning support may require time to be effective. The germane load of the experimental group was higher for well-structured problems than that of the control group. Using logistic regression, the two groups were differentiated through different variables measured in this study, which showed a high predictive explanatory power. The results provide implications for designing self-regulated learning support for programing courses, using problem-based learning in association with problem-solving skills, self-regulated learning skills, and cognitive load management.

How to Win Games and Influence Football Players

How to Win Games and Influence Football Players

Integrating human knowledge into artificial intelligence for complex and ill-structured problems: Informed artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been gaining significant attention in various fields to reduce costs, increase revenue, and improve customer satisfaction. AI can be particularly beneficial in enhancing decision-making processes for complex and ill-structured problems that lack transparency and have unclear goals. Most AI algorithms require labeled datasets to learn the problem characteristics, draw decision boundaries, and generalize. However, most datasets collected to solve complex and ill-structured problems do not have labels. Additionally, most AI algorithms are opaque and not easily interpretable, making it hard for decision-makers to obtain model insights for developing effective solution strategies. To this end, we examine existing AI paradigms, mainly symbolic AI (SAI) guided by human domain knowledge and data-driven AI (DAI) guided by data. We propose an approach called informed AI (IAI) by integrating human domain knowledge into AI to develop effective and reliable data labeling and model explainability processes. We demonstrate and validate the use of IAI by applying it to a social media dataset comprised of conversations between customers and customer support agents to construct a solution – IAI defect explorer (I-AIDE). I-AIDE is utilized to identify product defects and extract the voice of customers to help managers make decisions to improve quality and enhance customer satisfaction.

Investigating Problem-Solving Processes of Students, Faculty, and Practicing Engineers in Civil Engineering

AbstractSolving ill-structured problems is a complex task that is required of engineers who work in industry. To better prepare undergraduate engineering students for this complex task and their fu...

What Is Most Desirable for Nature? An Analysis of Azorean Pupils’ Biodiversity Perspectives When Deciding on Ecological Scenarios

Understanding pupils’ biodiversity perspectives is essential to developing educators’ sensitivity to students’ multi-faceted views of the world, thus increasing teaching effectiveness. In this study, we asked 1528 school pupils in the Azores to choose between alternative schemes in three ecological scenarios and to justify their decisions. The study’s objectives were to understand biodiversity perspectives underlying pupils’ choice of the most desirable schemes for nature and to examine whether gender and school level (middle school/high school) influenced their choices. Quantitative (frequency analysis and Chi-square statistics) and qualitative (thematic analysis) methods were applied for data analysis. The majority of pupils made appropriate choices, arguing from different biodiversity perspectives, which were classified in 10 categories and 24 subcategories. High school pupils did not exhibit significant differences among the main arguments employed, and mostly referred to ecological concepts, while middle school pupils exhibited different choices according to gender, emphasizing richness over the threats posed by introduced species. Biodiversity education should thus be strengthened, especially at the middle school level, where different complex issues would benefit from classroom discussion and systematization. The chosen methodological strategy proved to be effective in assessing pupils’ biodiversity perspectives, which may be useful to deal with other ill-structured problems.

Disaster Series: Elements of a Disaster

A disaster is an environmental disruption of medical care, a victim generator that disrupts the ability to treat multiple patients. Death can come from physiological, physical, social, or behavioral threats within the disaster environment. Legal or administrative definitions of disasters are necessary for out-of-area resource allocation. Topological dynamical systems describe the continuous transformations within the topological space of a disaster. A functional description of disasters focuses on the damage produced by the disaster rather than how the damage was caused. An ecological description underscores how damage creates a new environment within our familiar, formerly safe work environment. The disaster environment can have a latent effect on physiology in several ways. The disaster forms an embedded problem, an ill-structured problem embedded in the environment. We extend operations into disasters by developing capabilities rather than assessing risk.

When will I get out of the Hospital? Modeling Length of Stay using Comorbidity Networks

ABSTRACT A reliable and accurate estimate of the expected hospital length of stay (LOS) of a patient is important to patients, medical providers, and insurance companies. Predicting hospital Length of Stay (LOS) is a complex and ill-structured problem, driven by many factors such as a patient’s individual characteristics, treatment plans, and disease-interactions. In this paper, we develop a novel model to predict the expected LOS at the time of admission by combining network science and deep learning. We propose a two-dimensional construct of latent comorbidities comprising historical and probable comorbidities that a patient does not currently manifest but could likely develop during the course of hospital stay. The probable comorbidities are derived from a network comprising relationships among diseases observed in 3.2 million patient records in hundreds of US hospitals. We employ this construct of latent comorbidities in deep learning models to predict patients’ LOS using almost 10 million other patient visits belonging to various disease categories. Implementing these models and analyses required a high-performance computing (Big Data) facility. The average mean absolute percent error of our models across all categories of diseases was 29.8%, which is the best in the current state-of-the-art. Our primary contribution is in developing a generalizable method to create a predictor construct for recognizing underlying relationships through network analyses, which can then be used in a deep learning model to predict an exogenous dependent variable.

Fostering Students’ Values Through Role Play about Socioscientific Issues

During the course of international curriculum reform, decision making about socioscientific issues (SSI)—open-ended controversial issues with connections to science, technology, and society—has been labeled a critical tool for achieving scientific literacy. Therefore, enhancing students’ socioscientific decision making as part of science education has become a pressing issue; global SSI affect people every day. This leads people worldwide to collaboratively involve in decision-making processes to solve these ill-structured problems for the sake and safety of humanity. Values are core principles and guidelines that support socioscientific decision making. Therefore, recent conceptualizations of scientific literacy also consider values a core component of this vision of science education. However, few instructional strategies have been provided to support students’ enactment of character and values. Role play has proven to be an effective way of socioscientific decision making because it can empower students’ emotive, intuitive, and ethical reasoning, through which students can enact and develop values regarding SSI. In this paper, we provide an example lesson plan for fostering high school students’ values and decision making about the issue of nuclear energy through role play.

Transporting Problem Based Learning to the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCC): Using Cultural Scripts to Analyze Cultural Complexities

The globalization of education has increased large-scale education reforms worldwide. Over the past 15 years, Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCC) have invested significant resources in reforming their education systems. This has led to extensive borrowing of pedagogical approaches to initiate and implement educational change. This article evokes several cultural learning scripts to identify the challenges that arise when pedagogical approaches are adopted and implemented. Specifically, problem-based learning (PBL) is examined against the backdrop of these cultural scripts to examine the cultural complexities of PBL in a GCC context. Discussion is provided that addresses several fundamental concerns that should be considered in order to reduce the cultural challenges and improve the implementation of PBL in GCC contexts. trends towards collaborative tools, while also describing opportunities and challenges with digital literacy. Finally, teachers described strategic approaches to assessment in light of the ill-structured problems posed by PBL. Implications for practice and theory are discussed.

How K-12 Teachers Adapt Problem-Based Learning Over Time

Teachers adapt their instructional strategies over time based on a variety of contextual constraints. In response to these challenges, teachers often have to make changes to their PBL approaches. While the literature has documented generally positive results of initial PBL implementations, less is known about the degree to which teachers adapt their usage of PBL over time. Some adaptations include a refined approach to teaching strategies, while others include significant diversions from the original PBL model. A better understanding of the changes teachers enact provides important insight as to fidelity and thus the expected learning outcomes of PBL. To address this gap, this research conducted semi-structured interviews with experienced K-12 educators who employed PBL over multiple years. In terms of preparing for PBL, themes that emerged from the interviews included more emphasis on reimagining the problem scope and design thinking. During classroom time, teachers described shifting perspectives in terms of the following: problem-solving skills over content knowledge, student control and teacher facilitation, and embracing failure. Relating to technology, teachers described more adoption trends towards collaborative tools, while also describing opportunities and challenges with digital literacy. Finally, teachers described strategic approaches to assessment in light of the ill-structured problems posed by PBL. Implications for practice and theory are discussed.

Students’ in-moment challenges and developing maker perspectives during problem-based digital making

We report on a case study of eight grade 5 to 6 students (ages 12–14) involved in a three-day “digital-making summer camp” focused on mathematical problem-solving through block-based programming combined with programmable electronics. Data analysis focused on the computational thinking (CT), mathematics, and problem-solving challenges that surfaced during the activities and on the students’ developing perspectives about themselves as computational thinkers and problem solvers. Our results suggest the students developed various CT and problem-solving competences and dispositions during the digital-making activities. However, they experienced difficulties with ill-structured problems. This study supports the creative uses of digital making as complementary to K-12 mathematics learning.

Reframing Architecture through Design

Reframing Architecture through Design

Online argumentation-based learning aided by digital concept mapping during COVID-19: implications for health management teaching and learning

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has affected educational systems worldwide, forcing them to abruptly shift from face-to-face to online teaching and learning. This case study illustrates how a traditional lecture-based activity for undergraduate students in a Management of Health Service Organizations program was transformed into an argumentation-based learning activity using the technique of digital concept mapping and was deployed in an online format during the COVID-19 lockdown.Design/methodology/approachThe students were tasked with solving an ill-structured problem bearing significance for their future professional lives and connected to the contents of their course (entitled “Assimilation of service quality in health systems”). The activity was composed of two phases. In Phase 1, participants were asked to provide five arguments to establish their proposed solution to the problem by using a concept map on a digital platform (Mindomo). In Phase 2, they were asked to substantiate their arguments. Reflective journals were used to ascertain how the participants viewed the activity. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data by searching for themes demonstrating different epistemological positions.FindingsSix themes were inductively derived from the students' reflections: (1) transitioning from passive to active learning; (2) generating epistemic change; (3) social perspective-taking; (4) domain-based knowledge; (5) prior knowledge and experience; and (6) online collaboration with other students. Episodes, thoughts and feelings expressed by the students were reported so as to increase the reliability of the recurrent and common themes.Originality/valueThis study mainly shows that combining constructivist teaching and learning tools with advanced technology in an online course enables the development of lifelong learning capabilities among students in the health management professions.

Exploring the effect of three scaffoldings on the collaborative problem-solving processes in China\u2019s higher education

Collaborative problem-solving (CPS) engages students in solving ill-structured problems, creating group knowledge, and developing self-regulation and collaboration skills. Different scaffoldings, such as minimal-guided, task-oriented, and idea-oriented, can be used to facilitate students’ CPS activities, but their effects have not been comprehensively explored. In this research, we use minimally-guided, task-oriented, and idea-oriented scaffoldings to promote Chinese university students’ online CPS activities and use a multi-method approach to analyze the effects of three scaffolding on collaboration. The results indicate relatively complicated collaborative processes and outcomes supported by three scaffoldings. It is initially shown that the idea-centered scaffolding strengthens students’ connections between idea contribution, metacognitive regulation, and knowledge artifact behaviors, which are critical factors for improving the CPS quality. Based on the empirical research results, we conclude that future instructional design should carefully consider the educational culture, time constraint, and student regulation to better facilitate CPS practices.

An exploration of the relationship between argumentative prompts and depth to elicit alternative positions in ill-structured problem solving

An exploration of the relationship between argumentative prompts and depth to elicit alternative positions in ill-structured problem solving

New Pedagogical Approaches to Shaping the Next Generation of Portuguese Manufacturing Professionals

With the exponential growth of digital technologies, the industrial sector is looking for people capable of solving ambiguous, open-ended, and ill-structured problems. The 4th Industrial Revolution marks a new mindset and the need to inspire and educate young students to become the manufacturing engineers of the future. With this in mind, the European project ShapiNG, is focused on raising the interest of high school students for activities in the field of manufacturing in Portugal, Spain, Greece and Slovakia. Students will interact and critically engage with challenges related to smart manufacturing from an early age, motivating them to consider a possible career in this area. In Portugal, activities such as the Digital Escape Room Game and the Teaching Factories for Kids, are helping the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto in attracting and engaging young students from different high schools and communities. These activities address topics related to Cyber-Physical Production Systems, Additive Manufacturing, Digitalization, Internet of Things and Robotics. This work describes the results achieved in Portugal activities, ultimately positing the idea of the importance and benefits of innovative pedagogical approaches regarding the learning experience of Smart Manufacturing related topics among high school students.

Students’ Creative Thinking Process in Solving Ill-Structured Problem at Eight Grade Students with High Ability

Creativity and problem solving are important skills in facing 21st century, but students’ creativity in solving mathematics problem is various. Therefore, to improve students’ creative thinking, teacher have to know their creative thinking process. The purpose of this research is to describe the students’ creative thinking process in solving ill-structured problem at high-ability students. The research type is descriptive with qualitative approach. The subjects of this study were two high-ability students. Result of the research showed that in the preparation stage, high-ability students understand the problem well and collected the datas and informations known from the problems. In the incubation stage, they were silent for a moment; reread the information obtained from preparation stage; made an illustration from the problem; and recalled ideas from their prior knowledge. In the illumination stage, high ability students found another idea by analyze the previous idea, planned the problem solving carefully; connected mathematic ideas to the reality; and continued solve the problems use the idea obtained from the previous stage. In the verification stage, high-ability students rechecked the calculation; verified the ideas; and revised the invalid ideas.