Proficiency In Problem Solving Research Articles

Relationship between Teacher Trainee’s Proficiency in Solving Standard Linear Equations (SLE) and Their Proficiency in Posing Word Problems Involving Standard Linear Equations

The major aim of teaching Mathematics at every level of education is to help students solve problems. Mathematics teachers, therefore, need to possess these requisite skills to impact these problem-solving techniques in the students they teach. Hence, this paper employed a case study to investigate the strength of the relationship between teacher trainees' Problem Solving and their Problem Posing skills, using a simultaneous linear equation. It involved forty-five teacher trainees from College of Education. Three research questions were used and an achievement task was used to collect data. The data was analyzed along some thematic dimensions, in percentages. A Pearson Product Moment correlation matrix was used to determine the relationship between teacher trainees' proficiency in Problem Solving and Problem Posing. The result revealed a significant positive relationship r=0.34 between Problem Solving and Problem Posing ability of trainees. There also exist gender differences in this relationship, with females performing better than males. This shows that when the two concepts are integrated into teaching Mathematics, it could promote students' proficiency in solving word problems. Teaching mathematics through Problem Solving should be reinforced and the introduction of Problem Posing into the mathematics curriculum at the College of Education be considered.

The Physics Problem-Solving Taxonomy (PPST): Development and Application for Evaluating Student Learning

This study addresses the development and evaluation of the Physics Problem-Solving Taxonomy (PPST), comprising five levels: retrieval, diagnosis, strategy, conceptual, and creative thinking. The taxonomy draws on Bloom’s revised taxonomy in the cognitive domain, the Types of Knowledge Taxonomy, and the Problem-Solving Taxonomy in engineering. The study includes applying PPST to analyze the content of the Israeli national physics exam (the Bagrut), student Bagrut scores (n = 18,000), and student answers to a school-level physics exam (n = 164). The findings indicate that in both the Bagrut and the school exam, the higher an item ranks on PPST, the lower the students’ grades on this item. In addition, the distribution of student scores on the two exams is similar, indicating high reliability and validity of the PPST scale. This tool could help physics teachers to rank difficulty levels of the high school physics exam questions, and create high school physics questions, to foster students’ proficiency in physics problem solving.

Performances and Skills of Cotabato City’s Mathematics Pre-service Teachers in Problem Solving

The performances in problem solving of mathematics pre-service teachers in Cotabato City was determined in this study using qualitative research design. The Polya’s theory (1954) on problem solving skills in terms of understanding the problem, devising a plan, carrying out the plan, and looking back was used in classifying and describing the performances of the respondents in the conducted problem solving skill test. Ten (10) mathematics preservice teachers from Cotabato City State Polytechnic College enrolled for the school year 2014-2015 were chosen as respondents using purposive sampling. The study then found out that the respondents’ level of proficiency in problem solving in terms of understanding the problem, devising a plan, and looking back is ‘Developing’ as they cannot define the problems adequately and cannot follow them to conclusion. However, they are at the level of ‘Approaching Proficiency’ in terms of carrying out the plan.

Excellent execution in new product development: Improving problem solving

NEW product development inevitably requires solving new problems, innovating, and being creative. Managers can improve their teams' proficiency in creativity, problem solving and new idea generation by strengthening four measurable, trainable competencies.

Why are non-routine mathematics word problems difficult?: Lessons from preservice basic school teachers in Ghana

This study sought to contribute to the literature on why non-routine word problems in Mathematics often seem difficult for learners. Three hundred and sixty-nine Primary and Junior High School teacher trainees from three Colleges of Education in Southern Ghana participated in the study. A non-routine mathematics word problem achievement test was administered to the teacher trainees, after which 18 (out of the 369) were interviewed to explain their processes. The difficulties encountered by participants were analysed using Newman’s (1977/1983) Error Analysis as the theoretical framework. The results revealed that the pre-service teachers generally had weak proficiency in non-routine word problem solving. The majority of participants could not solve problems at the Junior and Senior High School levels. Implications of the findings for pre-service teacher preparation at the College of Education level in Ghana and countries that have similar mode of teacher education are provided.

Pre University Students Proficiency in Symbols, Graphs and Problem-Solving and Their Economic Achievement

The purpose of this study is to identify the level of difficulty of symbols, graphs and problem-solving items in Economic achievement among pre university students. The sample comprised of 110 students from national daily secondary schools in the state of Kedah, Malaysia. The achievement test comprised of 18 items with six symbol items, six graph items and six economic problem-solving items. The findings show that item difficulty indices for symbol items, graph items, and economic problem-solving items are 0.65, 0.45, and 0.49 respectively, which indicate that students in the study can understand items presented using symbols better than the graphs or economic problem-solving items. The students faced greater difficulty with graph items compared to economic problem-solving items. For symbol items, students faced difficulty in answering Item 2 (Saving Function—0.20) and Item 4 (Market Balance—0.28). For the graph items, the students had difficulty in answering Item 4 (Demand—0.25) and Item 2 [Two sectors C + I—0.29). For the Economics problem-solving items, students found it difficult to answer Item 5 (Tax—0.21). The findings in the study imply that a combination of symbol, graph and economic problem-solving items should be taken into account when constructing items for Pre University Economics tests.

Socio-demographic and practice-oriented factors related to proficiency in problem solving: a lifelong learning perspective

This article explores the relative importance of different socio-demographic and practice-oriented factors that are related to proficiency in problem solving in technology-rich environments (PSTREs) and by extension may be related to complex problem solving (CPS). The empirical analysis focuses on the proficiency measurements of PSTRE made available by the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, which is relevant for gaining insight on some of the factors related to CPS. The purpose was to examine the relationship between the broad information processing experience that individuals gather in different contexts over the lifespan, and the chances to develop problem-solving skills that adults receive in different socio-demographic profiles. Results reveal that socio-demographic factors such as age, education and immigration status as well as practice-oriented factors such as ICT use and reading practice at and outside work are strongly related to proficiency.

The contribution of general cognitive abilities and number abilities to different aspects of mathematics in children

This study examined the relative contributions of general cognitive abilities and number abilities to word problem solving, calculation, and arithmetic fact retrieval in a sample of 134 children aged 10 to 13years. The following tasks were administered: listening span, visual matrix span, verbal fluency, color naming, Raven’s Progressive Matrices, enumeration, number line estimation, and digit comparison. Hierarchical multiple regressions demonstrated that number abilities provided an independent contribution to fact retrieval and word problem solving. General cognitive abilities contributed to problem solving and calculation. All three number tasks accounted for a similar amount of variance in fact retrieval, whereas only the number line estimation task contributed unique variance in word problem solving. Verbal fluency and Raven’s matrices accounted for an equal amount of variance in problem solving and calculation. The current findings demonstrate, in accordance with Fuchs and colleagues’ developmental model of mathematical learning (Developmental Psychology, 2010, Vol. 46, pp. 1731–1746), that both number abilities and general cognitive abilities underlie 10- to 13-year-olds’ proficiency in problem solving, whereas only number abilities underlie arithmetic fact retrieval. Thus, the amount and type of cognitive contribution to arithmetic proficiency varies between the different aspects of arithmetic. Furthermore, how closely linked a specific aspect of arithmetic is to the whole number representation systems is not the only factor determining the amount and type of cognitive contribution in 10- to 13-year-olds. In addition, the mathematical complexity of the task appears to influence the amount and type of cognitive support.

Lessons Learned from a State-Funded Workplace Literacy Program

Findings from an evaluation of a workplace literacy program funded by the State of Indiana are presented. Working with employers, providers were given considerable latitude to design their own training regimens. The state awarded certificates to workers who achieved certain levels of proficiency in reading, math, critical thinking, problem solving (assessed by CASAS), and computer literacy (certified by IC3). The evaluation relied on qualitative and quantitative data. Multiple site visits were undertaken and a survey of participants (n = 1800), learning gains, and earnings histories were quantitatively analyzed.Key findings include a significant interest in college attendance by incumbent workers, higher-than-expected levels of literacy in pre-assessments, little reliance on contextualization, and the importance of a program champion and supervisory support at workplaces. Business return was not formally measured, but employers and workers reported significant morale gains and frequent productivity gains.

Developing a General Outcome Measure of Growth in the Cognitive Abilities of Children 1 to 4 Years Old: The Early Problem-Solving Indicator

Proficiency in problem solving is an important outcome in early childhood necessary for cognitive and emotional development. The development of an individual growth and development indicator of problem solving for children 1 to 4 years of age is described. Based on the general outcome measurement approach (Deno, 1997), the measure is intended for use by early childhood educators and interventionists in the education and identification of children having difficulty acquiring problem-solving skills and for monitoring children's progress during the course of interventions and early childhood. Results from a sample of 30 children demonstrated the superiority of an indicator comprised of Functions + Solutions toy play behaviors from among indicators based on four potential key skills and two composites. The Functions + Solutions indicator was superior in sensitivity to growth over time, psychometric properties, and practicality for use by early interventionists. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Creative dance: Singapore children's creative thinking and problem‐solving responses

An important outcome of Singapore's education system is the development of creative thinking skills. This project investigates the impact of a creative dance unit on a class of Primary One (seven‐year‐old) children's usage of bodily kinaesthetic intelligence to solve problems. One key objective was for the researchers to observe something new, something that stimulated the children to deviate from their normal range of motion. Students were observed across five sessions in order to document any progressive learning, particularly in their kinaesthetic responses to the problem‐solving tasks. These kinaesthetic responses serve as the primary data source for this paper. Our belief was that creative thinking and problem solving are learnable and teachable skills. We hypothesized that in spite of children's lack of dance education, there would be an observable increase in creative thinking as expressed in varied solutions to movement problems over the course of five sessions. A programme of instruction and curricular materials has been designed to support the acquisition of cognitive skills and subject‐matter knowledge and increase students' proficiency in problem solving and experimentation using the tools of dance.

Medical students' personal knowledge, searching proficiency, and database use in problem solving

The relationship between personal knowledge in a domain and searching proficiency in that domain, and the relationship between searching proficiency and database-assisted problem-solving performance were the foci of this study. On four assessment occasions over a 2-year period, 36 medical students solved problems in three biomedical domains (bacteriology, pharmacology, and toxicology) with and without assistance from a factual database in the relevant domain. There was little evidence of any relationship between personal domain knowledge and searching proficiency (i.e., search results, selection of search terms, improvement in selection of search terms over the course of the search, and efficiency). Search results, selection of search terms, and efficiency were found to be related to database-assisted problem-solving performance. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Medical students' personal knowledge, searching proficiency, and database use in problem solving

Medical students' personal knowledge, searching proficiency, and database use in problem solving

The Language of Math Needs to Be Taught

may be regarded as a symbolic language whose practical function is to express quantitative and spatial (Brown, 1953). Language also may be regarded as a code designed to express relationships, feelings, thinking, and objects in the environment. Math involves the understanding of spatial relationships and quantitative reasoning. These are inherent in the ability to calculate, but the core of comprehending and expressing mathematical relationships lies in the utilization of language, the words that give meaning to the ideas and symbols (Edwards, 1979). Problem solving for math is the task most often recognized as dependent on both reading and language competence. Language and vocabulary knowledge, however, are embedded in computation as well as in mathematical thought and performance. Mathematics is a bona fide second language with its own alphabet symbols, vocabulary, syntax, grammar and literature (Sharma, 1981). Yet where in our mathematics curriculum of today is the language of math specifically taught? Few seem to realize that proficiency in math, both for computation and problem solving,

Implications of Cognitive Theory for Instruction in Problem Solving

Cognitive theories of problem solving and suggestions made by cognitive psychologists regarding how to teach problem solving are reviewed. Theories and suggestions from creativity research are also considered. The results are summarized in a description of how high levels of proficiency in problem solving are acquired and how problem solving skills might best be taught, keeping in mind a distinction between well-and ill-structured problems. The need for practice materials is discussed, and some desirable qualities of such materials are suggested. Finally, several unresolved issues regarding instructional methods are considered.

Implications of Cognitive Theory for Instruction in Problem Solving

Cognitive theories of problem solving and suggestions made by cognitive psychologists regarding how to teach problem solving are reviewed. Theories and suggestions from creativity research are also considered. The results are summarized in a description of how high levels of proficiency in problem solving are acquired and how problem solving skills might best be taught, keeping in mind a distinction between well-and ill-structured problems. The need for practice materials is discussed, and some desirable qualities of such materials are suggested. Finally, several unresolved issues regarding instructional methods are considered.

IMPLICATIONS OF COGNITIVE THEORY FOR INSTRUCTION IN PROBLEM SOLVING

ABSTRACTCognitive theories of problem solving and suggestions made by cognitive psychologists regarding how to teach problem solving are reviewed. Theories and suggestions from creativity research are also considered. The results are summarized in a description of how high levels of proficiency in problem solving are acquired and how problem solving skills might best be taught, keeping in mind a distinction between well and ill‐structured problems. The need for practice materials is discussed, and some desirable qualities of such materials are suggested. Finally, several unresolved issues regarding instructional methods are considered.