Acquisition Of Problem-solving Skills Research Articles

Assessment of Using Software for the Acquisition of Problem-solving Skills in Mechanical Engineering Students

Objective: To investigate the effect of using mathematical software as a tool to develop problem-solving competence in mechanical engineering students. Methods: A group of 59 students were evaluated using a test consisting of four technological problems related to Bloom´s taxonomy levels of understanding and application. Interpretation and explanation questions were used for the understanding level, and execution and implementation questions were used for the application level. First, the students tried to solve the problems by manual calculations; then, after brief instruction, they tried to solve them by coding using mathematical software. Results: Successful problem solutions increased from 72 to 93%, 15 to 62% and 13 to 26% of the students’ totals in interpreting, explaining, and implementing situations, respectively, but there was a 55 to 44% regression in regard to execution. Better results in understanding questions with respect to applying questions could be due to the increase in difficulty at the taxonomy level. Conclusion: The current study demonstrates the convenience of using computational tools to facilitate the application of mathematical techniques in problem solving and to improve the learning of engineering students.

Developing Problem-Solving Expertise for Word Problems

Studying worked examples impose relatively low cognitive load because learners’ attention is directed to learn the schema, which is embedded in the worked examples. That schema encompasses both conceptual knowledge and procedural knowledge. It is well-documented that worked examples are effective in facilitating the acquisition of problem-solving skills. However, the use of worked examples to develop problem-solving expertise is less known. Typically, experts demonstrate an efficient way to solve problems that is quicker, faster, and having fewer solution steps. We reviewed five studies to validate the benefit of worked examples to develop problem-solving expertise for word problems. Overall, a diagram portrays the problem structure, coupled with either study worked examples or complete multiple example–problem pairs, facilitates the formation of an equation to solve words problems efficiently. Hence, an in-depth understanding of conceptual knowledge (i.e., problem structure) might contribute to superior performance of procedural knowledge manifested in the reduced solution steps.

Investigation on the Effects of Activity-Based Science Teaching Practices in the Acquisition of Problem Solving Skills for 5-6 Year Old Pre-School Children

This research study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of activity-based science teaching practices on the acquisition of problem-solving skills for 5-6 year old preschool children. A total of 32 children were included in this research study. The Personal Information Form and 4-7 Age Problem Solving Ability Scale were used as the data collection tools in the study. Pre-test-post-test control group design was employed. In the experimental group, activity-based science teaching practices prepared by researchers of this study were implemented in 12 weeks (24 integrated activities). In the control group, there was no specific implementation related to problem solving skills other than the Turkish Ministry of National Education Preschool Curriculum. In the analysis of the data, Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests were administered. Results showed that activity-based science teaching practices were effective in improving preschool children's problem solving skills.

Making It Count: Strategies for Improving Problem-Solving Skills in Mathematics for Students and Teachers’ Classroom Management

Understanding a problem is as important as solving it to understand the meaning of mathematics. It is a widespread view that problem-solving skills help individuals to overcome the problems easily in their daily lives. An individual with problem-solving skills is a self-confident, creative and independent thinker. It can be explicable that the societies formed by these individuals can easily solve the problems. In this vein, this study is aimed to determine the relationship between the acquisition of problem-solving skills that play an important role in mathematics alongside two dimensions of classroom management which are time management and plan-program management. It is thought that there is a close relationship between these two dimensions; problem-solving skills. The types of problems are divided into two; routine and non-routine. The aim is to get opinions about how these problems will be taught by mathematics teachers, at what level they will be used in class and what methods they will use for them. The study was conducted by doing a content analysis of qualitative research methods. The sample group which is randomly determined from five provinces of North Cyprus is composed of mathematics teachers who teach at the 9th grade level. The data was collected through semi-structured interview forms. Content analysis technique was used in the evaluation of the obtained data. As a result, it was found out that the mathematics teachers who work in the Ministry of National Education and teach at the 9th grade, have been given importance to problem-solving skills such as, problem-solving duration and problem-solving methods in their classes. In addition, the teachers pointed out that the time given is not sufficient at schools and they could not give enough importance to plan-program activities. They also pointed out that although the annual and monthly plans specified by the Ministry, the desired variety of questions could not be provided by different methods.

Prognosis of Disease that may Occur with Growing Age using Confabulation Based Algorithm

The enduring diagnosis of patient’s medical records might be useful to determine the causes that are responsible for a particular disease. So that, one can take early preventive measures to curtail the risk of diseases that may occur with the growing age. Consequently, this can enhance the life expectancy probability. Here, a new algorithm CMARM is proposed for analysis of symptoms in order to find out the disease that may occur frequently and rarely with growing age. It uses map reduce paradigm inspired by cognitive learning. It is concerned with acquisition of problem-solving skills, intelligence and conscious thought and uses prevailing knowledge to generate new rules. It has been evaluated over synthetic data sets collected from the health data repository. Since, CMARM requires one-time file access therefore, it is consistently faster and also consuming less memory space than the FP tree based algorithm.

Problem-solving for STEM learning: navigating games as narrativized problem spaces for 21st century competencies

Identifying educational competencies for the 21st workplace is driven by the need to mitigate disparities between classroom learning and the requirements of workplace environments. Multiple descriptors of desired 21st century skill sets have been identified through various wide-scale studies (e.g., International Commission on Education for the 21st Century) and consistently within the context of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning, the ability to problem solve, particularly complex problem-solving, remains a crucial competency. In this paper, we look at how current contemporary spaces such as the immensely popular, massively multiplayer online role-playing game(MMORPG), World of Warcraft, (WoW) afford problem-solving skill acquisition in the context of Singaporean youth learners. Given that WoW exists as a contextual space with an overarching narrativized problem to be solved, our investigation focused on two important related constructs that underpin learners’ problem-solving trajectory—learning and identity becoming within contemporary domains of technology learning. We present findings of an ethnographic investigation of one youth gamer within the affinity spaces of WoW. Moving away from traditional mentalistic construals of problem-solving, our findings indicate that problem-solving within WoW may be characterized by a triadic-D model of domain, disquisitional, and discursive practices within self, social, and structural dialectics. Theoretical considerations for broadening the understanding of a situated and embodied notion of problem-solving and identity becoming within STEM learning are proposed.

SITS: A solution-based intelligent tutoring system for students’ acquisition of problem-solving skills in computer programming

In learning systems and environment research, intelligent tutoring and personalisation are considered the two most important factors. An Intelligent Tutoring System can serve as an effective tool to improve problem-solving skills by simulating a human tutor’s actions in implementing one-to-one adaptive and personalised teaching. Thus, in this research, a solution-based intelligent tutoring system (SITS) is proposed. It benefits from Bayesian networks in managing uncertainty based on the probability theory for the process of decision-making so as to aid students learn computer programming. Additionally, SITS benefits from a multi-agent system that employs an automatic text-to-flowchart conversion approach to engage novice programmers in flowchart development with the aim of improving their problem-solving skills. Finally, the performance of SITS is investigated through an experimental study. It is revealed that SITS is not only capable of boosting students’ learning interest, attitude and technology acceptance, but it also helps students achieve more in terms of problem-solving activities.

What is the best way to develop new managers? Problem-based learning vs. lecture-based instruction

What is the best way to develop the next generation of managers and leaders? The present study takes aim at directly comparing the effectiveness of problem-based learning with the more traditional, lecture-based instruction, as well as a hybrid approach, on student learning in the management classroom. It seems clear from the literature on problem-based learning in medical schools that problem-based learning has a positive impact on the acquisition of problem-solving skills but either a negative impact or no impact on knowledge acquisition. The present study was designed to directly assess the differential impact of problem-based learning and lecture-based instruction on both the acquisition of problem-solving skills, specifically critical thinking skills, and knowledge acquisition in the management classroom. Findings parallel those found in medial school classrooms. Implication for instruction and curriculum design in the management classroom are considered.

Example-based learning: comparing the effects of additionally providing three different integrative learning activities on physiotherapy intervention knowledge.

BackgroundExample-based learning using worked examples can foster clinical reasoning. Worked examples are instructional tools that learners can use to study the steps needed to solve a problem. Studying worked examples paired with completion examples promotes acquisition of problem-solving skills more than studying worked examples alone. Completion examples are worked examples in which some of the solution steps remain unsolved for learners to complete. Providing learners engaged in example-based learning with self-explanation prompts has been shown to foster increased meaningful learning compared to providing no self-explanation prompts. Concept mapping and concept map study are other instructional activities known to promote meaningful learning. This study compares the effects of self-explaining, completing a concept map and studying a concept map on conceptual knowledge and problem-solving skills among novice learners engaged in example-based learning.MethodsNinety-one physiotherapy students were randomized into three conditions. They performed a pre-test and a post-test to evaluate their gains in conceptual knowledge and problem-solving skills (transfer performance) in intervention selection. They studied three pairs of worked/completion examples in a digital learning environment. Worked examples consisted of a written reasoning process for selecting an optimal physiotherapy intervention for a patient. The completion examples were partially worked out, with the last few problem-solving steps left blank for students to complete. The students then had to engage in additional self-explanation, concept map completion or model concept map study in order to synthesize and deepen their knowledge of the key concepts and problem-solving steps.ResultsPre-test performance did not differ among conditions. Post-test conceptual knowledge was higher (P < .001) in the concept map study condition (68.8 ± 21.8%) compared to the concept map completion (52.8 ± 17.0%) and self-explanation (52.2 ± 21.7%) conditions. Post-test problem-solving performance was higher (P < .05) in the self-explanation (63.2 ± 16.0%) condition compared to the concept map study (53.3 ± 16.4%) and concept map completion (51.0 ± 13.6%) conditions. Students in the self-explanation condition also invested less mental effort in the post-test.ConclusionsStudying model concept maps led to greater conceptual knowledge, whereas self-explanation led to higher transfer performance. Self-explanation and concept map study can be combined with worked example and completion example strategies to foster intervention selection.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12909-015-0308-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Testing After Worked Example Study Does Not Enhance Delayed Problem-Solving Performance Compared to Restudy

Four experiments investigated whether the testing effect also applies to the acquisition of problem-solving skills from worked examples. Experiment 1 (n = 120) showed no beneficial effects of testing consisting of isomorphic problem solving or example recall on final test performance, which consisted of isomorphic problem solving, compared to continued study of isomorphic examples. Experiment 2 (n = 124) showed no beneficial effects of testing consisting of identical problem solving compared to restudying an identical example. Interestingly, participants who took both an immediate and a delayed final test outperformed those taking only a delayed test. This finding suggested that testing might become beneficial for retention but only after a certain level of schema acquisition has taken place through restudying several examples. However, experiment 2 had no control condition restudying examples instead of taking the immediate test. Experiment 3 (n = 129) included such a restudy condition, and there was no evidence that testing after studying four examples was more effective for final delayed test performance than restudying, regardless of whether restudied/tested problems were isomorphic or identical. Experiment 4 (n = 75) used a similar design as experiment 3 (i.e., testing/restudy after four examples), but with examples on a different topic and with a different participant population. Again, no evidence of a testing effect was found. Thus, across four experiments, with different types of initial tests, different problem-solving domains, and different participant populations, we found no evidence that testing enhanced delayed test performance compared to restudy. These findings suggest that the testing effect might not apply to acquiring problem-solving skills from worked examples.

Fostering Problem-Solving in a Virtual Environment

This article investigates students’ perceptions of the relationship between Problem-Solving and the activities and resources used in a Web-based course on the fundamentals of Information Technology at a university in Montreal, Canada. We assess for the different learning components of the course, the extent of perceived problem-solving skills acquisition including research, creativity and critical thinking skills. The course entailed two categories of learning, namely resources-based and interactive components. The study aimed at answering the following questions: 1) To what extent do students understand the definitions of Problem-solving, Research, and Creative Idea Generation skills, and Critical Thinking skills? (2) What is the relative contribution of the various learning components (activities and resources) of the course to the perceived acquisition of Problem-Solving, Research, and Creative Idea Generations skills, and Critical Thinking skills; (3) Is the understanding of the definitions correlated with the perceived contributions of the learning components (activities and resources) of the course to the skills development? (4) To what extent is perceived Problem-solving skill acquisition explained by the acquisition of the other three skills?

Self-explaining effect in general chemistry instruction: eliciting overt categorical behaviours by design

Self-explaining refers to the generation of inferences about causal connections between objects and events. In science, this may be summarised as making sense of how and why actual or hypothetical phenomena take place. Research findings in educational psychology show that implementing activities that elicit self-explaining improves learning in general and specifically enhances authentic learning in the sciences. Research also suggests that self-explaining influences many aspects of cognition, including acquisition of problem-solving skills and conceptual understanding. Although the evidence that links self-explaining and learning is substantial, most of the research has been conducted in experimental settings. There remains a need for research conducted in the context of real college science learning environments. Working to address that need, the larger project in which this work is embedded studied the following: (a) the effect of different self-explaining tasks on self-explaining behaviour and (b) the effect of engaging in different levels of self-explaining on learning chemistry concepts. The present study used a multi-condition, mixed-method approach to categorise student self-explaining behaviours in response to learning tasks. Students were randomly assigned to conditions that included the following: explaining correct and incorrect answers, explaining agreement with another's answer, and explaining one's own answer for others to use. Textual, individual data was gathered in the classroom ecology of a university, large-enrolment general chemistry course. Findings support an association between the self-explaining tasks and students' self-explaining behaviours. Thoughtful design of learning tasks can effectively elicit engagement in sophisticated self-explaining in natural, large-enrolment college chemistry classroom environments.

Validation study of a method for assessing complex ill-structured problem solving by using causal representations

The important but little understood problem that motivated this study was the lack of research on valid assessment methods to determine progress in higher-order learning in situations involving complex and ill-structured problems. Without a valid assessment method, little progress can occur in instructional design research with regard to designing effective learning environments to facilitate acquisition of expertise in complex, ill-structured knowledge domains. In this paper, we first present a method based on causal representations for assessing progress of learning in complex, ill-structured problem solving and discuss its theoretical framework. Then, we present an experimental study investigating its validity against adapted protocol analysis. This study explored the impact of a massively multiplayer online educational game, which was designed to support an interdisciplinary STEM education on ninth-grade students’ complex, ill-structured problem solving skill acquisition. We identify conceptual similarities and differences between the two methods, present our comparative study and its results, and then discuss implications for diagnostics and applications. We conclude by determining how the two approaches could be used in conjunction for further research on complex and ill-structured problem solving.

A Test of the Testing Effect: Acquiring Problem‐Solving Skills From Worked Examples

The "testing effect" refers to the finding that after an initial study opportunity, testing is more effective for long-term retention than restudying. The testing effect seems robust and is a finding from the field of cognitive science that has important implications for education. However, it is unclear whether this effect also applies to the acquisition of problem-solving skills, which is important to establish given the key role problem solving plays in, for instance, math and science education. Worked examples are an effective and efficient way of acquiring problem-solving skills. Forty students either only studied worked examples (SSSS) or engaged in testing after studying an example by solving an isomorphic problem (STST). Surprisingly, results showed equal performance in both conditions on an immediate retention test after 5 min, but the SSSS condition outperformed the STST condition on a delayed retention test after 1 week. These findings suggest the testing effect might not apply to acquiring problem-solving skills from worked examples.

Dynamic Modeling as a Cognitive Regulation Scaffold for Developing Complex Problem-Solving Skills in an Educational Massively Multiplayer Online Game Environment

Following a design-based research framework, this article reports two empirical studies with an educational MMOG, called McLarin's Adventures, on facilitating 9th-grade students' complex problem-solving skill acquisition in interdisciplinary STEM education. The article discusses the nature of complex and ill-structured problem solving and, accordingly, how the game-based learning environment can facilitate complex problem-solving skill acquisition. The findings of the first study point to the importance of supporting cognitive regulation of students for successful complex problem-solving skill acquisition in digital game-based learning. The findings of the follow-up study show that when scaffolded by dynamic modeling, students made significant improvement in their complex problem-solving outcomes. Implications drawn from the findings of these two studies are discussed related to: (1) educational game design strategies to effectively facilitate complex problem-solving skill development; and (2) stealth or embedded assessment of progress in complex problem solving during digital game-based learning.

Effects of identical example–problem and problem–example pairs on learning

Examples are often an integral part of online learning environments directed at the acquisition of problem-solving skills. An unresolved issue, however, is when examples should be provided to learners. Prior research has suggested that example-problem pairs are more effective than problem-example pairs for novice learners. However, in those studies, the problem-example pairs condition may have been hindered by the fact that the examples and problems were not identical within and across pairs. The present experiment therefore employed a between-subjects design with two conditions to compare the effects of learning to solve one particular problem from studying/practicing either in an example-problem-example-problem sequence (EP condition; n = 16) or in a problem-example-problem-example sequence (PE condition; n = 16). Results show that participants in the EP condition outperformed their counterparts in the PE condition during the learning phase, but that this difference had disappeared on the test tasks after participants in the PE group had also studied the example a second time.

The acquisition of problem-solving skills in mathematics: How animations can aid understanding of structural problem features and solution procedures

In this paper the augmentation of worked examples with animations for teaching problem-solving skills in mathematics is advocated as an effective instructional method. First, in a cognitive task analysis different knowledge prerequisites are identified for solving mathematical word problems. Second, it is argued that so called hybrid animations would be most effective for acquiring these prerequisites, because they show the continuous transition from a concrete, but superficial problem representation to a more abstract, mathematical problem model that forms a basis for solving a problem. An experiment was conducted, where N = 32 pupils from a German high school studied either only text-based worked examples explaining different problem categories from the domain of algebra or worked examples augmented with hybrid animations. Learners with hybrid animations showed superior problem-solving performance for problems of different transfer distance relative to those in the text-only condition.

Environmental Literacy: Knowledge for a Healthier Public

In 1988, New York City’s West Harlem community had a problem. The recently opened North River Sewage Treatment Plant, which stretches eight blocks along the Hudson River, was doing a poor job of processing about 170 million gallons of raw sewage daily. Residents were concerned about the foul smells coming from the plant, and parents complained that their children were suffering from respiratory problems. The community knew it needed help, but it also needed something else: information on the exposures it was facing, on the health effects of those exposures, and on the courses of action open to the people. When the community mobilized months later to form West Harlem Environmental Action Inc. (WE ACT), it had taken the first step toward cultivating just that sort of environmental literacy.

Innovative Teaching: Using Multimedia in a Problem-Based Learning Environment

Presently, traditional educational approaches have resulted in a mismatch between what is taught to the students and what the industry needs. As such, many institutions are moving towards problem-based learning as a solution to producing graduates who are creative, can think critically and analytically, and are able to solve problems. In this paper, we focus on using multimedia technology as an innovative teaching and learning strategy in a problem-based learning environment by giving the students a multimedia project to train them in this skill set. The purpose of this project was to access the students’ skills in framing and solving problems using multimedia technologies. The students worked in groups and each group had to pick a topic for their project, develop, design and present it in a CD-ROM. They were then surveyed on their attitudes toward the project and their skills as a team. Results showed that the students were very positive toward the project, enjoyed teamwork, able to think critically and became active participants in their learning process. Therefore, multimedia-oriented projects, like many other problem-based learning solutions, can be used alternatively as an innovative and effective tool in a problem-based learning environment for the acquisition of problem-solving skills.

Making the abstract concrete: Visualizing mathematical solution procedures

This paper reports on an experiment investigating the effects of different kinds of computer-based visualizations on the acquisition of problem-solving skills in the domain of probability theory. Learners received either purely text-based worked examples, text plus an instruction to mentally imagine the examples’ contents, or the possibility of retrieving either static pictures or concrete animations that depicted the problem statement and the problem states achieved by applying a specific solution-step. It could be shown that frequent use of both static pictures and imagining the examples’ contents improved performance on isomorphic problems. Frequent use of animations, in contrast, led to substantial increases in learning time and a decrease in performance. Thus, the use of concrete animations to visualize solution procedures was more harmful than helpful for conveying problem-solving skills. Reasons for these outcomes are discussed in the light of cognitive load theory.