In this study, problem solving provided deeper meaning and understanding through the implementation of a structured problem solving strategy with the teaching of rational numbers. This action-research study was designed as a quasi-experimental model with a control closely matched to an experimental group using similar demographics and number of economically disadvantaged students. In comparison to the control group, the experimental group received their instruction in rational numbers with the addition of a structured problem solving strategy, and a pre/posttest on problem solving with proportionality between similar geometric figures, converting fractions to percents, proportionality with a given ratio, expression of a ratio, and appropriate application of ratios. The study indicates that a structured problem solving strategy can improve the mathematical accuracy, approach and the explanation of rational numbers that are focused on rates, ratio, proportion, and percents. Results showed a statistically significant difference in the performance of these two groups. Effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were reported to support the findings. When examining subgroups, the study showed the structured problem solving stratey not only improved students' ability to understand and use rational numbers but also improved students' problem solving skills and their attitude towards problem solving. The experimental group showed the most improvement in the approach to solving problems with rational numbers indicating deeper understanding of rates, ratios, proportions and percents.

This study focused on two areas under the overarching theme of the effects of domain-general and domain-specific scaffolds with different levels of support, continuous or faded. First, the study investigated the effects of scaffolds on learning of scientific content and problem-solving outcomes. Second, the study examined whether students’ prior knowledge and meta cognitive skills predict their success in problem solving across different scaffolding conditions. A total of nineteen classes were randomly assigned to one of the four scaffolding conditions: domain-general continuous (DG-C), domain-general faded (DG-F), domain specific continuous (DS-C), and domain-specific faded (DS-F). Each class had access to different worksheets depending on the scaffolding condition they had been assigned. All students engaged in four problem-solving activities for thirteen class periods. Students’ scores on a multiple-choice pretest, post test, inventory of meta cognitive self-regulation, and four recommendation forms were analyzed. Results of the study revealed that students’ content knowledge in all conditions significantly increased over the thirteen class periods. However, the continuous domain specific condition outperformed the other conditions on the post test. Although domain general scaffolds were not as effective as domain-specific scaffolds on learning of scientific content and problem representation, they helped students develop solutions, make strong justifications, and monitor their learning. Unlike domain-specific scaffolds, domain-general scaffolds helped students transfer problem-solving skills even when they were faded. In terms of individual differences, results indicated that while students with lower prior knowledge and lower meta cognitive skills benefited from the domain general continuous condition, students with lower regulation of cognition benefited from the domain-general faded condition. Moreover, while students with lower prior knowledge, lower knowledge of cognition, and lower problem representation benefited from the domain-specific continuous condition, students with lower problem representation benefited from the domain-specific faded condition. In contrast, results of the study suggested that scaffolds did not substantially benefit the students with higher prior knowledge and higher meta cognitive skills. Several suggestions are discussed for making further improvements in the design of scaffolds in order to facilitate ill-structured problem solving in hypermedia learning environments.

The main purpose of this research is to explore the implementation of problem-posing teaching activities for fifth grade students in the elementary school. The teaching material is on mixed operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The method of posing problems is Tsubota¡¦s ¡§Classified Subject¡¨, adopted from Japan. The teaching of posing problems was divided into two phases; one is ¡§problem solving¡¨, the other is ¡§problem posing then solving¡¨. According to this method, students initially solve the problems that the teacher provided. Second, taking this subject as the foundation, students posed the problems by themselves and solved the problems as well. During this research, the researcher utilized a variety of ways to collect data, such as self-construction of instruments on four arithmetic operations, problem-solving worksheets, problem-posing worksheets, learning diaries, and reflective notes. The goals of this research are four: first, analyzing the categories of students¡¦ work and the contents of posing problems that student created; second, investigating into the performance of problem solving; third, probing students¡¦ opinions of problem-posing activities; four, the difficulties the teacher encountered. The results of this research were four. First, it showed that 98.5% of students given problems included sufficient data for solving. Students virtually were able to make feasible problems. Moreover, the majority of students were capable to, not only changing numerals of the problems, but also changing structures of the problems. The tendency of changing structure followed multiple aspects of developments. Second, students¡¦ performance on three steps operations problem solving was low; the performances of problem solving and problem posing then solving were close; students¡¦ performance at problem posing then solving stage was higher; and, the major reason for mistakes was insufficient procedural knowledge. Third, students expressed a liking of problem posing, they thought that the materials were interesting, and showed promising study manner. Fourth, the teacher encountered problems such as time control, the development of in-class presentation culture, and, few students¡¦ lack of concentration while problem posing.

Innovation of science and technology is the impetus for the promotion of human civilization, and the fostering of innovators of science and technology has become an important educational goal in the era of knowledge economy. The purpose of the present study is to mobile the teachers, who have long supervised students in science exhibition competition, to develop innovative science teaching material, and to conduct an instruction experiment to examine the effect of such a material on elementary pupils¡¦ creativity, problem solving, and science subject performance. The instruments of the present study include 1) Creativity Test (Verbal-bamboo chopsticks, figure-¤H) developed by Wu, et al. (1998), 2 )Creative Problem Solving Test, and Subject Knowledge and Concept Test developed by researchers (2002). The study consists of three stages. Firstly, a team of ¡§Innovative Science Teaching Material¡¨ is organized by 7 elementary school science teachers with average 20 years of working experience, five of which have been awarded as the first rank more than five times in science exhibition competitions held for elementary schools in Kaohsiung. An appropriate Creative Thinking Instruction Model (CTIM) is constructed through panel discussion and shared teaching expertise on weekly basis in a 17-week period, and teaching material is developed on the basis of the constructed CTIM. Secondly, an experiment is conducted to test the effect of the developed teaching material. The three teachers in the treatment group will receive a 3-day instruction demonstration and reflection from the workshop by the team of ¡§Innovative Science Teaching Material,¡¨ while the three teachers in the contrasted group do not. Then, a total of 206 fifth grade pupils in three Kaoshiung elementary schools are selected, on a quasi-experiment design, with pre-, and post tests on unequal number subjects, for the treatment group in a 10-week-session innovative instruction . Third, a follow up test is done 6 months after the experiment. The data are analyzed through One-Way MANCOVA to test the effect of the innovative science teaching material on pupils¡¦ learning. The results indicate that¡G1) a general consensus is reached by the team of ¡§Innovative Science Teaching Material,¡¨ through 17 panel discussions, and the essentials of Inquiry approach and STS(Science/Technology/Society) approach are combined on the basis of CTIM, which then be classified into ¡§Creativity of teachers,¡¨ and ¡§Creativity of the pupils, ¡¨ which were further differentiated into six steps: setting design, problem finding, hypothesis formation, testing design, results interpretation, and application promotion, which form an instruction loop; 2) On instruction effect, students in the experimental group perform better on verbal creativity, figure creativity, problem solving competence, and global science subject knowledge than those in the contrasted group; 3) On the follow up test (6 months after the experiment), students in the experimental group perform better on verbal fluency and verbal originality creativity than those in the contrasted group, which indicates a lasting effect of the instruction, but there is no significant difference between subjects.

The purpose of this research is to probe into the differences of pupil-teacher interaction behaviors between award teachers and general teachers, and to examine the effect of the teaching behavior towards the student¡¦s science knowledge, creativity and problem solving abilities. The objectives of this research are 1) To compare the differences between pupil-teacher interactions in teachers with experiences in different science exhibition competitions, 2) To compare students with various levels of awareness towards the behavior of teachers who have experiences in different science exhibition competitions, 3) To compare the levels of science knowledge in students taught by teachers who have experiences in different science exhibition competitions, 4) To compare the differences of students¡¦ creativity taught by teachers who have experiences in different science exhibition competitions, and 5) To compare the difference in students¡¦ problem solving. The samples selected in this research included 6 teachers chosen from Grade 5 Level in schools in the suburbs of Kaohsiung City. Three of these teachers, referred to as Award teachers, had participated in the National Science Competition in Taiwan on multiple occasions and won at least 3 times each. The remaining 3 teachers, referred to as General teachers, had never participated in this competition. Subjects in this research were a total of 205 students of the selected teachers. The tools used in this research, with regard to the teachers, were the processes of class observation and interview using the Flanders pupil-teacher interaction analysis system and process triangulation using the Student Inspection Creativity Fostering Teacher Index. For analysis of the students, we collected the students¡¦ results and tested them using a Creativity Thinking Test and Creative Problem Solving-Form B, and analyzed the data by using a t-test, a one-way ANOVA and a one-way MANOVA. The results indicated that: 1.The award teachers are better than the general teachers in regard to the quality of pupil-teacher interactions. The award teachers encouraged the asking of questions and students¡¦ active participation more than general teachers did. 2.The teaching style of the award teachers is generally better than that of the general teacher. Award teachers tend to excel in their question strategy, class management and cooperative learning skills. They challenge their students and offer diverse stimulation, while harnessing the students¡¦ spirit towards science. 3.The students from the award teachers¡¦ class generally agree that the award teachers¡¦ performance is better than that of the general teachers. The students in the award teachers¡¦ class tend to achieve more than those under general teachers in independent learning, cooperative learning, basic knowledge, delay judgment, flexible thinking, students¡¦ self evaluation, students¡¦ questions, learning opportunity and setback experience. 4.The level of creativity of students in the award teachers¡¦ class is generally higher than that of the students in general teachers¡¦ class. The students in the award teachers¡¦ class generally have higher levels of fluency, flexibility and originality of verbal and figurative creativity than those in general teachers¡¦ class. 5.The students in the award teacher¡¦s class are better than those in the general teachers¡¦ class in the abilities of problem observation, problem analysis and problem solving.

For the past decade or two, the industrial structure in Taiwan have been changed from production oriented to service type causing some industries to relocate abroad or to close their business. In the 90¡¦s, the structure of companies changed in the direction of flat organization in order to survive in the highly competitive market. The purpose of this paper is to identify the main functions of the middle managers in the flat organizations. Due to limited number of papers in discussing of the middle managers, the questionnaire is structured from the information of papers related in the area of the duties, abilities and strategic role of the middle managers. By applying structural questionnaire through qualitative research interview, came out the quotation script. Then, using narative inquiry concludes that middle managers should hold the following five main functions: 1. Function of communication 2. Function of problem solving 3. Function of implementation 4. Function of synthesis 5. Function of assisting development

For the past decade or two, the industrial structure in Taiwan have been changed from production oriented to service type causing some industries to relocate abroad or to close their business. In the 90¡¦s, the structure of companies changed in the direction of flat organization in order to survive in the highly competitive market. The purpose of this paper is to identify the main functions of the middle managers in the flat organizations. Due to limited number of papers in discussing of the middle managers, the questionnaire is structured from the information of papers related in the area of the duties, abilities and strategic role of the middle managers. By applying structural questionnaire through qualitative research interview, came out the quotation script. Then, using narative inquiry concludes that middle managers should hold the following five main functions: 1. Function of communication 2. Function of problem solving 3. Function of implementation 4. Function of synthesis 5. Function of assisting development

Thesis (EdD.)--Open University.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 177-183). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-169). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.