This study reports on technical program students’ approaches to solving open-ended problems during an introductory physics course in a Swedish upper secondary school. The study used case study methodology to investigate students’ activities in outdoor context. The findings come from observations and audio recordings of students solving three different open-ended problems. The results showed that the students had difficulties to formulate ‘solvable’ problems and to perform necessary ‘at home’ preparations to be able to solve the problems. Furthermore, students preferred to use a single solution method even though different solution methods were possible. This behavior can be attributed to their previous experience of solving practical problems in physics education. The result also indicated need of different levels of guidance to help the students in their problem solving process. A tentative conclusion can be made that open-ended problems have an educational potential for developing students’ understanding of scientific inquiry and problem solving strategies in the process of performing practical outdoor activities.

Visual knowledge appears to be an important part of problem solving, but the role of visual knowledge in analogical problem solving is still somewhat mysterious. In this work I present the Constructive Adaptive Visual Analogy theory, which claims that visual knowledge is helpful for solving problems analogically and suggests a mechanism for how it might be accomplished. Through evaluations using an implemented computer program, cognitive models of some of the visual aspects of experimental participants, and a psychological experiment, I support four claims: First, visual knowledge alone is sufficient for transfer of some problem solving procedures. Second, visual knowledge facilitates transfer even when non-visual knowledge might be available. Third, the successful transfer of strongly-ordered procedures in which new objects are created requires the reasoner to generate intermediate knowledge states and mappings between the intermediate knowledge states of the source and target analogs. And finally, that visual knowledge alone is insufficient for evaluation of the results of transfer.

The purpose of this study was to measure the competency of problem solving skills of fourth-year veterinary students. The study identified two primary objectives, (a) define clinical competency for fourth-year veterinary medical students, and (b) construct an instrument to assess the student’s level of clinical competency. A faculty advisory panel identified three themes in the development of a definition of clinical competency, (a) competency was situational, (b) competency was described by ability, and (c) the definition of fourth-year student competence was descriptive within the context of primary patient care. The description of competency contributed to the establishment of parameters applied to the rubric. Student self-assessments were taken twice; initially at the beginning of the clinical rotation, and again at the end of the rotation as a post-clinical assessment. The faculty instructor provided a comparison post-clinical assessment to serve as an authentication of the reliability of the instrument. Overall, students qualified themselves to be “Fully Competent Students” at the beginning of the clinical rotation, and also at the end of the rotation. However, in the disaggregated quantified scores, the student self-assessment peaked at the highest competence level, “Among The Most Competent Students,” for five descriptors of values and beliefs listed under Responsibility, Professionalism, and Interpersonal Skills. The faculty comparison assessment was in agreement with the student’s qualified description as “Fully Competent Students” but did not agree with the higher quantified scores posted for values and beliefs. The descriptive statistics of the data reflect that the mean increased between the pre-clinical (M = 8.43, SD = 1.36) and the post-clinical (M = 9.10, SD = 1.32) assessments. The comparison mean for the faculty assessment (M = 9.01, SD = 1.52) was slightly lower than the student post-assessment. The assessment provided evidence supporting a confidence statement that the instrument has the sensitivity to detect changes in skills, and is consistent with research validated measures of problem-solving skills. Faculty authentication provided evidence of intra-rater reliability, while statistical analysis provided evidence that a relationship appears to be present between live-patient animal instruction and the increase in problem-solving competence of fourth-year veterinary students.

Caregivers of children with chronic illnesses or disabilities face challenges in their various roles as parents and providers of ongoing medical needs that often impact the daily life of the family. Research has shown that many of these caregivers experience emotional distress and psychological maladjustment due to multiple factors associated with being a caregiver. Little research has looked specifically at a unique group of caregivers of children with severe neurodisabilities who require varying degrees of respiratory care including ventilator support. This present study utilized data collected at the Arkansas Center for Respiratory Technology Dependent Children (ACRTDC) outpatient clinic. The data describes the prevalence of caregiver-reported experiences related to general health and psychological adjustment. It was hypothesized that this specific group of caregivers would report relatively high levels of distress related to disability severity and resulting respiratory care management plan. It was further hypothesized that family coping and constructive versus dysfunctional problem-solving styles would be predictive of general and mental health outcomes. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to test these hypotheses. Descriptive statistics revealed that the caregivers reported symptoms that were comparable to those of the general population. Neither demographic variables nor respiratory care management scores were predictive of scores associated with somatic complaints, depressive symptoms, anxious symptoms, general health and mental health. Caregivers differed on criterion variables based on differences in one of the coping subscales that measured social support, self-esteem and psychological stability. This relationship was observed on scores of somatization, depression, general health and mental health, but not with anxiety. Social problem-solving scores accounted for significant variance in scores of caregiver distress above that accounted for by family coping. Only negative problem orientation (NPO) accounted for a significant proportion of variance in scores of caregiver health and well-being. This strong relationship was observed on scores of somatization, depression, anxiety and mental health but not general health. Implications of results and directions for future studies are presented.

The aim of this study is to explore different graders¡¦ concept of unknown and performance in solving equations in concrete situations. In recent years of early algebra research in the United States (Carraher, Schliemann, & Schwartz, in press), it was found that through systematic teaching, low and middle graders¡¦ algebra performance was better than the same or even higher graders without teaching. Therefore, semi-structured interview was adopted to collect data on three cases: a second-grader, a fifth-grader and a seventh-grader who were using textbooks that follow Grade one-nine Integrated Coordinate Curriculum in SY89. The interview questions included addition and subtraction CHANGE problems, as well as multiplication and division EQUAL GROUPS problems; with natural numbers below 20, and given in four types: one-step, two-steps mixed, relating two unknowns and comparing two unknowns. Data analysis was conducted by referring to three sources of data: protocols from interviews, children¡¦s problem-solving records and interviewer¡¦s observation records. Research findings were: all three cases that received guidance could use equations to express problems; ¡§Undoing¡¨ was the most frequently used problem-solving strategy; both second and fifth graders could simplify expressions by number properties in concrete situations; both fifth and seventh graders could check if answers were reasonable; the meaning of equal sign developed from ¡§finding the results of¡¨ to ¡§equality in measures¡¨; and, individual differences in ¡§trial and error substitution¡¨ among three cases. Such results were consistent to that of Carraher. It is suggested that, introducing early algebra in the elementary school is helpful to children¡¦s learning of formal algebra in the junior high school.

Research study on sixth grade problem-posing instruction: Case of addition, subtraction and number comparison on decimals Abstract The aim of this research project is to investigate the implementation of problem-posing instruction on decimals to one sixth-grade mathematics class. There are four research objectives: 1) design and implement problem-posing instruction on decimals; 2) discuss the status of children¡¦s performance in problem-solving; 3) analyze the type of problems posed by children; and, 4) display categories of misconceptions exhibited when children did problem posing. The stages for instructions were three: 1) children solved the problem given by the instructor; 2) children referred to given problem and posed a problem; and, 3) children solved their own problem. In this study, the type of problem posing chosen for instruction is ¡§similar problem¡¨, which is adapted from Tsubota, a Japan scholar. The researcher collected data by using: own constructed decimal problems question sheet, worksheet on problem solving, worksheet on problem posing, children¡¦s diaries and teachers¡¦ notes on instruction. There are four findings. First, the implementation of sixth grade problem-posing instruction on decimals is feasible. Second, 96.9% of students¡¦ problems are plausible and contain sufficient information for problem solvers. Most students could change the number and content of the question but few revised the structure of the question. There was also multiple development for those problems. Third, children¡¦s performance in posing/solving stage was better than that in problem-solving stage. Finally, the researcher reported that the teacher faced problems such as difficulty in control of time, establishing children¡¦s habit in reporting, and collecting misconceptions of children. Key word : problem solving; problem posing; addition, subtraction and number comparison on decimals

The purpose of the study is to investigate the problem-solving strategies of children in fourth-grade, fifth-grade and sixth-grade. The investigators tried to guide children through a variety of problem-solving strategies that were in written, figural, or symbolic forms. Then the investigators examined the variation of children¡¦s spatial concepts by analyzing the problem-solving strategies used in calculating the volumes of various solids. In order to improve the teaching materials, the investigator identified the performance of spatial concepts by referring to QCAI (QUASAR Cognitive Assessment Instrument). For the purpose of designing future lessons, the investigator examined the relationship between children¡¦s problem-solving strategies level and the performance in the seven content areas in the curriculum. There are two results of this study: The first result is on the problem-solving strategies found within the same grade (4th; 5th; and 6th) and there are 3 findings. First, strategies of fourth-graders are focused on low-levels and middle-levels; strategies of fifth-graders focused on middle-level geometric space concept, and finally, strategies of sixth-grades students focused on middle-levels and high-levels. Second, there are no significant differences relating to gender. Third, the higher the grade of children is the higher the levels of their spatial concepts. In addition, the second result is the relationship between strategy levels and performance in seven content areas: revealing position corrections, and having mathematics as the most significant, and the rest in order: social studies, language arts, science and technology, arts and humanities, integrative activities, health and physical education.

This research referred to Basic Competency Test from 2001 to 2006 to construct test and analyzed 207 ninth-graders¡¦ problem-solving strategies as well as errors in solving linear equations with two unknowns. Furthermore, the investigator referred to the contents of interview, to investigate the factors that cause students¡¦ mistakes. Results shows that the main strategy for solving equations is 'to add and subtract the elimination approach', while for solving application problems is 'organizing side by side'. The errors for solving equations are mistaking concepts including Equality Axiom, etc. The errors for solving application problems are mostly concerned about the translation and holistic mistake. Through analyzing data from interviews, the reasons for mistakes in solving equations are: mutual interference of experience; mixed up different operation rules; or, solving a problem with the wrong concept built by themselves. The reasons for mistakes in solving application problems are: insufficient language ability; the lack of the self-monitoring; and limitation in strategies for solving problems. Finally, based on the results of this research, the researcher gave suggestions in three aspects. Hopefully, this research can assist teachers to have more variety in teaching methods heading towards an aim to benefit in students¡¦ learning.

To respond effectively in today's quickly changing, highly complex business environment, management must depend on organizational members' mental capacities to generate new and meaningful ideas. Consequently, creativity has evolved into a fundamental organizational resource useful in establishing and maintaining competitive advantage. One relatively new set of tools intended to augment the creative process is Idea-Generation Support System (IGSS). These computer-based tools are generally aimed at enhancing boundary-breaking, insightful thought during problem solving. However, if a IGSS were to directly enhance creative performance, the benefits could be multifaceted. For example, students could use the IGSS for reinforcing techniques learned in formal creativity training. Or, by matching IGSS tools to specific lesson needs, the IGSS might enable teachers to better enhance student's creative performance. Due to (1) the effects of culture gap on system performance and user satisfaction, (2) the lack of clear empirical evidence concerning the value of an IGSS, there is also little theoretical justification. Each IGSS appears to provide a different methodology for enhancing creativity with little more than anecdotal reasoning to justify the approach; a laboratory experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of IGSS developed in Taiwan. The results suggest that responses generated with software support are significantly more novel and valuable than responses without software support. It is hoped the findings from this investigation can be used to improve individual creative performance, further research concerning factors relevant to creativity, and guide future IGSS development efforts.

The main purpose of this study is to understand the possible effects of the problem-posing teaching technique in an elementary school, grade-two class. With problem-posing teaching technique of twenty-four classes within 12 weeks, the experimenter first used the problem-posing texts to ask students to formulate mathematical problems. After reviewing the problems formulated by students, the necessary interviews were done. The statistical analysis is done on pre-tests and post-tests of mathematical-solving ability. Students¡¦ feedbacks about problem posing teaching technique are collected. There were four stages in this experiment: (1) oral presentation of problem-posing, (2) written presentation of problem-posing, (3) written presentation of problem-posing and problem-solving by the same person, (4) wiitten presentation of problem-posing by one and problem-solving by another. The experimenter explored the following themes during these four stages: (1) the process of problem-posing learning, (2) the characteristics and erroneous types of the students¡¦ opus, (3) the differences on the problem-posing abilities when students faced formulas, pictures and written contexts, (4) the behaviors of the high problem-posing ability group and the low problem-posing ability group, (5) the enhance of problem-solving abilities due to problem-posing teaching technique. From this study, the experimenter found that the majority of the students participated in this study interesting in this teaching technique, and students¡¦ gained confidence in posing and solving mathematical problems. Besides, the experimenter also found that: (1) the students¡¦ ability in posing and solving problems progressed gradually in speed and correctness, (2) the characteristics and erroneous types of the students¡¦ opus were diverse, which included relativeness of situations, students¡¦ interests, school lives, and daily lives, correctness of mathematical logic, ambiguity of language, (3) students were better to pose problems from pictures and written contexts than from formulas, but there was no difference between from pictures and from written contexts, (4) the high problem-posing ability group performs better in speed and correctness to solve problem than the low problem-posing ability group, (5) Comparing the controlled and non-controlled groups, problem-posing teaching technique seems to helpe students to enhance their problem-solving ability.