Problem-solving Discourse Research Articles

Unmasking Hierarchies: Analyzing Power Dynamics in Supervisory Discourse with Staff

This study aims to understand, reveal, and challenge social inequalities through the analysis of language and power dynamics in the workplace. Using qualitative approach, this study focuses on the interactions between supervisors and staffs. The data were collected by voice recording the interaction process, and were then transcribed into text. The data analysis process involved three main steps: data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. The transcribed text was analyzed using Dell Hymes' Speaking Theory, which helped categorize the various components of the interaction. This study reveals a formal and professional setting characterized by respectful language and hierarchical relationships. The conversation revolves around professional tasks and responsibilities such as attending meetings, delivering letters, and organizing participants for a futsal event. This study also highlights the structured hierarchy in the communication and the respect given to those in authority. The conversation's content is classified as a combination of task-oriented and problem-solving discourse. It underscores the importance of recognizing and comprehending power dynamics to encourage more equitable and effective communication and collaboration in the workplace.

Exploring the relationship between commognition and the Van Hiele theory for studying problem-solving discourse in Euclidean geometry education

This article is an advanced theoretical study as a result of a chapter from the first author’s PhD study. The aim of the article is to discuss the relationship between commognition and the Van Hiele theory for studying discourse during Euclidean geometry problem-solving. Commognition is a theoretical framework that can be used in mathematics education to explain mathematical thinking through one’s discourse during problem-solving. Commognition uses four elements that characterise mathematical discourse and the difference between ritualistic and explorative discourses to explain how one displays mastery of mathematical problem-solving. On the other hand, the Van Hiele theory characterises five levels of geometrical thinking during one’s geometry learning and development. These five levels are fixed and mastery of one level leads to the next, and there is no success in the next level without mastering the previous level. However, for the purpose of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) we only focused on the first four Van Hiele levels. Findings from this theoretical review revealed that progress in the Van Hiele levels of geometrical thinking depends mainly on the discourse participation of the preservice teachers when solving geometry problems. In particular, an explorative discourse is required for the development in these four levels of geometrical thinking as compared to a ritualistic discourse participation.

Creativity in students\u2019 modelling competencies: conceptualisation and measurement

Modelling competencies are currently included in numerous curricula worldwide and are generally accepted as a complex, process-oriented construct. Therefore, effective measurement should include multiple dimensions, like the sub-competencies required throughout the modelling process. Departing from the characteristics of modelling problems as open and often underdetermined real-world problems, we propose to enrich the current conceptualisation of mathematical modelling competencies by including creativity, which plays an important role in numerous phases of the mathematical modelling process but has scarcely been considered in modelling discourse. In the study described in this paper, a new instrument for the evaluation of this enriched construct has been developed and implemented. The modelling competencies incorporating creativity of the students were evaluated based on the adequacy of the models and the modelling processes proposed, and the appropriateness and completeness of the approaches were evaluated in detail. Adapting measurement approaches for creativity that have been developed in the problem-solving discourse, certain criteria of creativity were selected to evaluate the creativity of the students’ approaches in tackling modelling problems—namely, usefulness, fluency, and originality. The empirical study was conducted among 107 Chinese students at the upper secondary school level, who attended a modelling camp and independently solved three complex modelling problems. The results reveal significant correlations between fluency and originality in students’ performances across all tasks; however, the relationships between usefulness and the other two creativity aspects were not consistent. Overall, the results of the study support the importance of the inclusion of creativity in the construct of modelling competencies.

Case analysis of children's reasoning in problem-solving process

ABSTRACTRecognising critical reasoning and problem-solving as one of the key skills for twenty-first century citizenship, various types of problem contexts have been practiced in science classrooms to enhance students’ understandings and use of evidence-based thinking and justification. Good problems need to allow students to adapt and evaluate the effectiveness of their knowledge, reasoning and problem-solving strategies. When students are engaged in complex and open-ended problem tasks, it is assumed their reasoning and problem-solving paths become complex with creativity and evidence in order to justify their conclusion and solutions. This study investigated the levels of reasoning evident in student discourse when engaging in different types of problem-solving tasks and the role of teacher interactions on students’ reasoning. Fifteen students and a classroom teacher in a Grade 5–6 classroom participated in this study. Through case analyses, the study findings suggest that (a) there was no clear co-relation between certain structures of problem tasks and the level of reasoning in students’ problem-solving discourse, (b) students exhibited more data-based reasoning than evidence-based and rule-based justification in experiment-based problem-solving tasks, and (c) teacher intervention supported higher levels of student reasoning. Pedagogical reflections on the difficulties of constructing effective problem-solving tasks and the need for developing teacher scaffolding strategies are discussed.

The use of teacher leader roles in an online induction support system

Induction training is a leading model for supporting teachers in today's challenging profession. We describe an online induction support scaffold designed around teacher leadership, and investigate how novice US teachers use leadership roles to address real-world teaching obstacles. We use symbolic interactionism as a lens to understand how teachers develop through the interplay between roles, social interactions and identity. Results indicate novice teachers can operationalize distinct teacher leader roles as early as induction, but may instinctively position their identity outside the role. Through social interactions with leadership roles, teachers moved problem-solving discourse toward a level more consistent with experienced teachers.

Exploring the formation of the “leave-it-to-experts” storyline during the initial outbreak of the 2013 smog hazard in Beijing

Beijing’s smog hazard is one of the most urgent issues on China’s public agenda. Drawing on the recently developed dynamic discourse coalition (DDC) approach, this article examines the ways in which the hazard’s initial outbreak in early 2013 was reported by four news sources: the Xinhua News Agency; China Daily; South China Morning Post; and the Associated Press. The findings suggest that although domestic and overseas media first provided different explanations for the hazard, these were eventually consolidated into the same problem-solving discourse of “leave-it-to-experts.” This discourse included a proposal to address the hazard under the current political economic structure of industrial capitalism. The proposal, however, was constrained by an elitist bias that downplayed China’s existing social and regional inequalities. The article argues that environmental challenges such as the smog hazard call for not only a sustainable model to direct China’s future development, but also the explicit recognition of the country’s existing environmental injustices.

Transdisciplinarity in higher education for sustainability: How discourses are approached in engineering education

Sustainability issues, as unwanted results of not fully respecting natural cycles, are widely recognized as wicked problems, which should not be thought of as problems to be solved, but rather as “conditions” to be managed, as if they were a chronic disease (Seager et al., 2011). Thee exists a general agreement on the need to reform scientific expertise by developing new ways of knowledge production and decision-making able to cope with the challenges sustainability poses. In this sense, transdisciplinary aspects of sustainability are acknowledged as a transformational stream of sustainability science.Transdisciplinarity is considered a competence for sustainability in technological curriculums. Nevertheless, engineering education professionals tread on unfamiliar ground when entering transdisciplinarity approach, as it includes social sciences and humanities perspectives. Advancing sustainable engineering science requires creating new long-term, participatory, solution-oriented programs as platforms to recognize and engage with the macro-ethical, adaptive and cross-disciplinary challenges embedded in professional issues.Meanwhile, individual university professors and researchers take a step forward to try out innovative experiences in their classrooms to deal with complexity and reach holism in fostering knowledge in different ways. This paper analyses first what is being done and how is it being focused, and second, What are the strategies for and purposes of implementing transdisciplinary experiences in engineering higher education.Assuming that distinct patterns of definition of transdisciplinary exists, the authors collated transdisciplinary initiatives in engineering education for sustainability from Thompson Klein (2004) discourses on transdisciplinarity: transcendence, problem solving and transgression. The also explored how practical constraints imposed by a classroom context, highlighted the limits of transdisciplinarity, and offered suggestions on improvements, which could be implemented. Balsiger (2015) proposes four varieties of transdisciplinarity (soft, hard, inclusive and reflexive) to identify ways for moving from one type to another as circumstances change, in terms of stakeholder's collaboration and knowledge integration possibilities.The methodology consisted in literature review of articles published in relevant journals in the field of sustainability, which focussed on transdisciplinarity approaches in engineering education. We have analysed how the different initiatives fit in Klein's discourses on transdisciplinarity. Moreover, an affinity analysis has been performed to cluster transdisciplinarity initiatives in engineering education for sustainability in homogeneous groups. Finally, in the varieties of transdisciplinarity framework, the experiences identified when reviewing the literature have been spread over the range among Balsiger's taxonomy.The investigation indicates that most transdisciplinary initiatives in technological education for sustainability fit in the problem solving discourse, where co-production of knowledge and method-driven aspects are relevant. Additionally, they fit in the scheme of broad collaboration and deep integration understood as hard transdisciplinarity. Within such discourse, experiences related to “innovation” fit in the reflexive transdisciplinarity area, which depends more on the efforts of education entities. It is relevant that none of the experiences analysed seems to fit under the transgression discourse paradigm, linked to human rights and emotional intelligence.We conclude that, if engineering programs are to challenge transdisciplinarity, in order to assure the acquisition of competences and worldviews needed to cope with complexity, a new brand of engineer should be trained, one that thinks critically about the co-construction of public welfare and the technological systems in which he or she works.This analysis is a starting point to analyse transdisciplinarity in engineering education for sustainability and to construct the education framework (curriculum structure, faculty competences, pedagogical approaches, etc.) that best facilitates the practice of transdisciplinarity in engineering education.

Problem-solving discourse on an international construction site: Patterns and practices

This paper analyses the discursive realisation of on-site problem-solving encounters in a large international construction project in Hong Kong. Specifically, the analyses focus on professional English as a lingua franca interactions between the engineers from Japan who are full-time employees of the company heading the joint venture, and contracted Hong-Kongese foremen and engineers. A combination of methods and several data sources are used to interpret the interlocutors' communications and relationships, and show how certain items, for instance problem, issue and if, as well as evaluative items such as metaphors and idioms, index discursive practices and patterns during problem solving. These data sources include fully transcribed spoken interactions, interviews with the participants and expert informants, and researcher field notes. The results shed light on the key intertextual role the contract plays in the context of construction industry problem solving, the various bodies that are involved in addressing complex problems, and the importance of the foreman and on-site engineer relationship.

Reprint of “Discourses of transdisciplinarity: Looking back to the future”

The current ascendancy of transdisciplinarity (TD) is marked by an exponential growth of publications, a widening array of contexts, and increased interest across academic, public and private sectors. This investigation traces historical trends, rhetorical claims, and social formations that have shaped three major discourses of TD: transcendence, problem solving, and transgression. In doing so, it also takes account of developments that have emerged or gained traction since the early 21st century when a 2004 issue of Futures on the same topic was being written.The epistemological problem at the heart of the discourse of transcendence is the idea of unity, traced in the West to ancient Greece. The emergence of transdisciplinarity was not a complete departure from this historical quest, but it signalled the need for new syntheses at a time of growing fragmentation of knowledge and culture. New synthetic frameworks emerged, including general systems, post/structuralism, feminist theory, and sustainability. New organizations also formed to advance conceptual frameworks aimed at transcending the narrowness of disciplinary worldviews and interdisciplinary combinations of approaches that did not supplant the status quo of academic structure and classification.The discourse of problem solving is not new. It was fundamental to conceptions of interdisciplinarity in the first half of the 20th century. Heightened pressure to solve problems of society, though, fostered growing alignment of TD with solving complex problems as well as trans-sector participation of stakeholders in society and team-based science. The discourse of transgression was forged in critique of the existing system of knowledge and education. TD became aligned with imperatives of cultural critique, socio-political movements, and conceptions of post-normal science and wicked problems that break free of reductionist and mechanistic approaches. It also became a recognized premise in interdisciplinary fields, including cultural studies, women's and gender studies, urban studies, and environmental studies. And, calls for TD arrived at a moment of wider crisis in the privileging of dominant forms of knowledge, human rights accountability, and democratic participation.Even with distinct patterns of definition, though, discourses are not air-tight categories. Transcendence was initially an epistemological project, but the claim of transcendence overlaps increasingly with problem solving. The imperatives of transgression also cut across the discourses of transcendence and problem solving. Broadly speaking, though, emphasis is shifting from traditional epistemology to problem solving, from the pre-given to the emergent, and from universality to hybridity and contextuality.

Discourses of transdisciplinarity: Looking Back to the Future

The current ascendancy of transdisciplinarity (TD) is marked by an exponential growth of publications, a widening array of contexts, and increased interest across academic, public and private sectors. This investigation traces historical trends, rhetorical claims, and social formations that have shaped three major discourses of TD: transcendence, problem solving, and transgression. In doing so, it also takes account of developments that have emerged or gained traction since the early 21st century when a 2004 issue of Futures on the same topic was being written.The epistemological problem at the heart of the discourse of transcendence is the idea of unity, traced in the West to ancient Greece. The emergence of transdisciplinarity was not a complete departure from this historical quest, but it signalled the need for new syntheses at a time of growing fragmentation of knowledge and culture. New synthetic frameworks emerged, including general systems, post/structuralism, feminist theory, and sustainability. New organizations also formed to advance conceptual frameworks aimed at transcending the narrowness of disciplinary worldviews and interdisciplinary combinations of approaches that did not supplant the status quo of academic structure and classification.The discourse of problem solving is not new. It was fundamental to conceptions of interdisciplinarity in the first half of the 20th century. Heightened pressure to solve problems of society, though, fostered growing alignment of TD with solving complex problems as well as trans-sector participation of stakeholders in society and team-based science. The discourse of transgression was forged in critique of the existing system of knowledge and education. TD became aligned with imperatives of cultural critique, socio-political movements, and conceptions of post-normal science and wicked problems that break free of reductionist and mechanistic approaches. It also became a recognized premise in interdisciplinary fields, including cultural studies, women's and gender studies, urban studies, and environmental studies. And, calls for TD arrived at a moment of wider crisis in the privileging of dominant forms of knowledge, human rights accountability, and democratic participation.Even with distinct patterns of definition, though, discourses are not air-tight categories. Transcendence was initially an epistemological project, but the claim of transcendence overlaps increasingly with problem solving. The imperatives of transgression also cut across the discourses of transcendence and problem solving. Broadly speaking, though, emphasis is shifting from traditional epistemology to problem solving, from the pre-given to the emergent, and from universality to hybridity and contextuality.

What makes up good consultations? A qualitative study of GPs' discourses.

BackgroundIn medical literature, several principles that define ‘good consultations’ have been outlined. These principles tend to be prescriptive in nature, overlooking the complexity of general practitioners (GPs)’ perspectives of everyday practice. Focusing on perspectives might be particularly relevant, since they may affect decisions and actions. Therefore, the present study adopts a bottom-up approach, analyzing GPs’ narratives about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ consultations. We aimed at describing the range of discourses GPs use in relating on their practice.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 Belgian GPs. By means of a qualitative analysis, the authors mapped patterns in the interview narratives and described the range of different discourses.ResultsFour discourses were identified: a biomedically-centered discourse, a communication-focused discourse, a problem-solving discourse and a satisfaction-oriented discourse. Each discourse was further specified in terms of predominant themes, problems the GPs prefer to deal with and inherent difficulties. Although most participants used elements from all four discourses, the majority of the GPs relied on an individual set of predominant discourses and focused on a limited number of themes.ConclusionThis study clearly indicates that there is no uniform way in which GPs perceive clinical practice. Each of the participants used a subtle mix of different criteria to define good and bad medical consultations. Some discourse elements appear to be rooted in medical literature, whereas others are of a more personal nature. By focusing on the limitations of each discourse, this study can shed new light on some of the difficulties GPs encounter in their daily practice: being confronted with specific problems might be an effect of adhering to a specific discourse. The typification of different discourses on consultations may function as a framework to help GPs reflect on how they perceive their practice, and help them manage some of the challenges met in daily practice.

Social cultural influences on current and future coastal governance

Australians have strong attachments to the coast. The impact of climate change brings to the fore deep-seated socio-cultural values, which add to the already complex and uncertain biophysical changes that challenge our preparations for future climate change.Our research aims to examine the role of worldviews and deep seated values in decision-making in response to climate change. The objective is to show how a multi-layered discourse analysis using causal layered analysis (CLA) can provide a powerful means of revealing the underlying social and cultural influences on decision-making and provide more insight into potential pathways for more effective responses to complex phenomena such as climate change. A case study of coastal governance in the south west of Western Australia, which is highly vulnerable to sea-level rise, provides the context of the research.We have found that CLA as a critical research tool has proven to be a useful method in uncovering the dominance of the administrative rationalist worldview on coastal governance. In our view, future coastal governance would benefit from a shift towards greater participatory governance and the incorporation of more reflexive practice so that the deeper emotional and relational aspects of decision-making balance out the dominant problem-solving discourse.

Cultural Diversity and the Challenge of Health Planning in Nigeria

This paper attempted to contribute to the problem solving discourse on human development parameters in Nigeria especially in health, education, security and good governance. The cultural diversities equally manifest in diversity of health care demands and outcomes. The clarification of the concepts of cultural diversity, health planning was done in the context of Nigeria. The third section explained the facts of Nigeria's poor health statistics that tends to correspond more to zones of high density of ethnic or cultural concentration. That is, states and zones with high ethnic concentration produce poor maternal and child health status also especially inter or intra-ethnic conflicts. It is concluded that culture embedded practices of the diverse peoples making the nation Nigeria is the root and primary explanant of the poor health profile notwithstanding the huge annual public investments and external donor funds. Also that a grand health planning and framework will not work in producing desired health development until cultural factors accounting for failure in health programs are studied and explained with hard data.

Achieving Alignment of Perspectival Framings in Problem-Solving Discourse

We use a concept of framing to explain 3 cases in which participants initially lacked mutual understanding but then achieved significant mutual understanding. The cases were all consistent with a pattern of positional framing that includes a human participant who is inquiring, which we call a listener, and a source, which may be another human participant or a non-human system. Participants with these different positionings have different perspectives that shape the interpretations and functions of their contributions. We hypothesize that achievement of mutual understanding also depends on participants having epistemological and conceptual framings that are sufficiently aligned. We distinguish between cases in which the participants achieved alignment of conceptual framing by adopting a schema that was in their common ground, cases in which the participants co-constructed a coherent framing without the benefit of a prefabricated schema (by constraint satisfaction, we hypothesize), and cases in which mutual understanding involved a refinement that did not require reframing. We argue that our hypotheses qualify as explanatory mechanisms, and we explicate this in an appendix. Our general goal is to contribute to the growing body of scientific studies that include concepts and methods for understanding cognitive structures and processes integrated with concepts and methods for understanding interaction that people have with each other and with other material and informational systems. [Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of the Journal of the Learning Sciences for the following free supplemental resource: “A Mechanistic Analysis of Discourse,” which presents an analysis of an episode from Case #1 of this article as a more detailed example of the kind of mechanism we have hypothesized in our more general accounts of interaction presented in the article.]

The effects of experience grouping on achievement, satisfaction, and problem-solving discourse in professional technical training

When a course designed around cooperative, problem-centered instruction attracts learners with a wide range of experience in the topic, should learners be grouped heterogeneously or homogeneously in terms of their relative expertise? In this study, learners were randomly distributed between the two types of groups; learning gains, satisfaction, and problem-solving discourse were compared. Overall, no significant differences were found between heterogeneous and homogeneous groups. However, groups solving relatively ill-structured problems exchanged significantly more elaborated explanations than groups solving relatively well-structured problems.

Gesture-to-Speech Mismatch in the Construction of Problem Solving Insight

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt:The present report analyzes a case of problem-solving insight achieved in a dyadic problem-solving discourse task. The task required two participants to work together to solve a murder mystery based on a story by Raymond Chandler. One participant appeared to use propositional speech and gestural simulation as checks on each other while he hypothesized alternative interpretations for the actions of a murder suspect. Each hypothetical scenario began with a gestural metaphor for a named kinship relationship between suspect and murder victim. Irreparable cross-modal mismatch between speech and gesture led to generation of a new kinship metaphor. Merging elements from the two gestural scenarios while maintaining semantic congruence between speech and gesture did not merely precede, but ac-tually constructed, problem-solving insight.

Problem-solving discourse models: informing an introductory engineering course

This article draws on Gee's notions of Discourse and specifically Discourse Models to explore Engineering Problem Solving1 and the different ways in which it can be understood in an engineering context. After Gee we attempt to identify aspects of doing, being and valuing that underpin people's Problem Solving Discourse Models. Interviews with three engineering lecturers reveal that they draw extensively on two different Discourse Models of Engineering Problem Solving. The more highly valued Model (Integrated Design Model) reflects engineering practice, is located in engineering design and dependant on judgement. The other is located in the classroom and involves the algorithmic resolution of mathematical models, (Knowledge Construction Model). These Discourse Models form a backdrop to interviews with three students entering an engineering degree programme for the first time. The three students each draw different Discourse Models of Problem Solving, and display characteristics (such as the level of confidence) that align more or less with Engineering Problem Solving, sometimes obscuring their understanding. The implications of these findings in terms of an introductory engineering course are discussed. These include recognising the potential diversity of Problem Solving Discourse Models our students bring to tertiary education, as well as the difficulty of introducing a legitimate design project requiring the level of judgement needed to interpret open-ended, ill-defined problems and then integrate multiple quantitative models with multidisciplinary qualitative judgements in a rigorous manner.

Heuristic literacy development and its relation to mathematical achievements of middle school students

The relationships between heuristic literacy development and mathematical achievements of middle school students were explored during a 5-month classroom experiment in two 8th grade classes (N = 37). By heuristic literacy we refer to an individual’s capacity to use heuristic vocabulary in problem-solving discourse and to approach scholastic mathematical problems by using a variety of heuristics. During the experiment the heuristic constituent of curriculum-determined topics in algebra and geometry was gradually revealed and promoted by means of incorporating heuristic vocabulary in classroom discourse and seizing opportunities to use the same heuristics in different mathematical contexts. Students’ heuristic literacy development was indicated by means of individual thinking-aloud interviews and their mathematical achievements – by means of the Scholastic Aptitude Test. We found that heuristic literacy development and changes in mathematical achievements are correlated yet distributed unequally among the students. In particular, the same students, who progressed with respect to SAT scores, progressed also with respect to their heuristic literacy. Those students, who were weaker with respect to SAT scores at the beginning of the intervention, demonstrated more significant progress regarding both measures.

The Effects of Preschool Girls’ and Boys’ Help Seeking on Adult Evaluations of Dyadic Problem Solving

Children’s help seeking is ubiquitous in dyadic problem solving and fundamental to theories of scaffolded intellectual development. However, little is known about possible effects of variation in help seeking on adult perceptions. This was investigated by having adults evaluate preschoolers’ ability, achievement expectation, and motivation during a challenging task, unaware that the children were matched in performance, strategy, and language ability, but differed only by gender and help seeking. Girls and high-help-seeking children were judged as less capable and less confident. Child gender and help seeking interacted, whereby girls high in help seeking were rated as less capable and confident than all other children. Although girls were rated as more motivated, gender and help-seeking level interacted. High-help-seeking girls were rated as lower in motivation than low-help-seeking girls, whereas the reverse was found for boys. Gender differences in pragmatic development important to adult-child problem-solving discourse are discussed.

Cracks in the iceberg: surfacing the tensions of constructivist pedagogy in the context of mentoring

This paper is the result of my inquiry into the nature of my constructivist pedagogy in the context of a postgraduate course that focused on theoretical and practical dimensions of mentoring at a major university in the north of Israel. Drawing on four critical incidents in my university teaching, I address the question: What happens when you teach a course characterized by a process‐oriented, constructivist discourse to post graduate students who hold leadership roles, such as mentors of teachers, in an educational system characterized by a predominantly product‐oriented discourse?. Drawing on four illustrative cases, each of which highlights a particular ‘crack in the iceberg’, I discuss the understandings that I gained about constructivist pedagogy as I reflected on these incidents. The four critical incidents surface four major tensions that reflected the ‘competing discourses’ (Miller‐Marsh, 2002) that played out in my constructivist pedagogy: Problem solving discourse versus Dilemmatic discourse; Constructive discourse versus Constructing discourse; Language of discourse versus Approach of discourse; and Leading discourse versus Emerging discourse. The critical incidents have made me realize that identifying ‘cracks in the iceberg’ has as much to do with becoming aware of my personal ‘cracks’ hiding underneath the ‘tip of the iceberg’ as with surfacing the tensions between my constructivist agenda and participants’ agendas. Laying open these discourses and challenging their underlying assumptions, in the context of mentoring conversations and personal narrative accounts of practice, seems essential for reconstructing more authentic ‘curriculum stories’.