The purpose of the present study was to examine cognitive abilities and problem solving processes of young and older adults. Specifically, three areas of inquiry were investigated: possible age-related differences in problem solving cognitive abilities, possible differences in cognitive processes used during problem solution, and possible differences in determinants of problem solving cognitive processes.

Writing has increasingly been emphasised in EFL classrooms in recent years, and Korea is no exception to this trend. The literature indicates that L2 writers experience language problems and attempt to solve them while converting their thoughts into another language. At the moment when learners struggle with a linguistic feature, they become aware of their lack of linguistic knowledge, and try to resolve the problem either by employing their own previously acquired knowledge sources, or by trying to access external knowledge sources. This problem-solving process may occur repeatedly during the L2 writing process. The aims of the current research are threefold: first, it investigates what Korean university learners of English notice while they are writing in L2; second, it attempts to examine what variables are related to and affect learners' noticing during the L2 problem-solving process and; third, the knowledge sources employed by learners when they face language problems are analysed. In order to achieve these aims, 108 English major students were recruited from three high ranked universities in Korea; think-aloud protocols and stimulated-recall interviews comprised the primary means of data collection. All participants were asked to do a writing task in L2 and to verbalise their thoughts while producing written text. Building on the data gathered from the writing task, stimulated recall interviews were carried out in order to identify the sources of knowledge employed to resolve language problems. The results of quantitative data analysis showed that the 108 participants in this study noticed approximately five language problems while writing an L2 text for 20 minutes, and verbally expressed many more lexical episodes than grammatical episodes. Regarding the relations between learner-related variables and noticing during the L2 writing process, previous study abroad experience and L2 proficiency affected learners' noticing. It was also found that L2-based verbal working memory had an effect when learners notice language problems in L2 text production, while L1-based verbal working memory had no effect. Moreover, qualitative data analysis indicated that the participants employed various types of knowledge sources in order to solve lexical or grammatical problems. It was found that both explicit linguistic knowledge sources, such as previously acquired L1-L2 translation word pairs, aspects of word knowledge (i.e., form, meaning, or use), episodic memory or analogy, and implicit knowledge sources, such as intuition, were used during the L2 problem-solving process. Based on these findings, possible implications for L2 writing teaching are discussed, stressing the importance of providing many writing opportunities for students, and suggestions for future research are presented.

The purpose of this research is to use Schoenfeld¡¦s mathematics problem-solving model to analyze processes, strategies, and affective characteristics of children in a gifted primary program, and then, to propose concrete suggestions for gifted class and general class teachers. Participants were six third-grade gifted children who were great in articulation, and enrolled in one primary school in Kaohsiung. The investigator analyzed think-aloud protocols of them who solved four non-routine problems selected by several expert teachers. The findings of this study were three. First, all six gifted students' thought processes mostly conformed to Schoenfeld¡¦s problem-solving model, though with various differences by individuals, and by problems. One of them provided two correct answers, having no verification stage in all problems. And one only provided one correct answer, had less analysis, exploration, design, and verification stage in solving all problems. Second, children exhibited diversified and flexible strategies. They used representing, drawing figures, working backward, introducing auxiliary element, and attempting mistakes to solve four non-routine mathematical problems. Last, the affective characteristics of students were positive. They were patient and perseverant and showed personal mathematics curiosity, excitement, and confidence, which were given as creative characteristics by Sternberg, and as mathematical talent or characteristics by Krutetskii. The investigator concluded that not all gifted students possessed meta-cognition ability: including exploration, design, and verification. The gifted class teachers could use non-routine mathematics problems to discipline students' meta-cognitive ability, including exploration, design, and verification, and encourage them to generate more solving strategies by group discussion in class. Finally, the general class teachers could adopt problem-solving characteristics of gifted students as materials for gifted students and general students to learn together in class.

This research comprised an investigation into the relationship between transformational leadership and organisational creativity. The overall aim of the research was to determine whether creativity in organisations can be linked to transformational leadership behaviours. A literature review was done to conceptualise transformational leadership and organisational creativity and to identify the theoretical relationship between these concepts. During the investigation it was found that a relationship does exist between transformational leadership and organisational creativity. A one-way ANOVA analysis and post hoc analysis were performed to address the empirical research questions. The descriptive statistics were analysed in terms of senior management and middle management, and their raters. The data analysis revealed that the research results were largely supportive of the theoretical research findings on the relationship between transformational leadership and organisational creativity. With regard to senior management, it was found that most raters rated their teams as creative, despite the fact that a relationship between transformational leadership and organisational creativity could not be determined due to the small sample size. With regard to middle management, it was found that a correlation existed between inspirational motivation, idealised influence (attributes and behaviour) and organisational creativity. It was further found that there was a correlation between senior management’s perceptions of their transformational leadership attributes and their direct reportees’ perceptions. There were significant differences between middle managers’ perceptions of certain elements of transformational leadership and that of their direct reportees. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

This research comprised an investigation into the relationship between transformational leadership and organisational creativity. The overall aim of the research was to determine whether creativity in organisations can be linked to transformational leadership behaviours. A literature review was done to conceptualise transformational leadership and organisational creativity and to identify the theoretical relationship between these concepts. During the investigation it was found that a relationship does exist between transformational leadership and organisational creativity. A one-way ANOVA analysis and post hoc analysis were performed to address the empirical research questions. The descriptive statistics were analysed in terms of senior management and middle management, and their raters. The data analysis revealed that the research results were largely supportive of the theoretical research findings on the relationship between transformational leadership and organisational creativity. With regard to senior management, it was found that most raters rated their teams as creative, despite the fact that a relationship between transformational leadership and organisational creativity could not be determined due to the small sample size. With regard to middle management, it was found that a correlation existed between inspirational motivation, idealised influence (attributes and behaviour) and organisational creativity. It was further found that there was a correlation between senior management’s perceptions of their transformational leadership attributes and their direct reportees’ perceptions. There were significant differences between middle managers’ perceptions of certain elements of transformational leadership and that of their direct reportees. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

This study attempts to gain an understanding of the responsibilities and place of the designer within his/her social, political and environmental context, a topic which is continuously being scrutinised. Graphic designers, as practitioners and researchers, have shifted towards principles found within Human-Centred Design (HCD) and problem-solving processes, primarily concerned with the community’s need and the voice of the community members within the problem and thus integrating the user into the design practice and problem-solving process. This practice-based research project reflects upon the integration of human-centred graphic design processes, analysing the brand and wayfinding design currently incorporated in the Sasolburg Public Library (SPL) through the implementation of HCD thinking and problem-solving processes, Participatory Action Research (PAR) and the HCD IDEO toolkit. The researcher critically and experientially questions and reflects upon HCD thinking: its problem-solving strategies, strengths and the ultimate result of its integration into the project, as she aimed to codesign a functional brand identity and way-finding system that resonates with the identified community need as well as the SPL’s current space and place ‘description’, essentially attempting to create a public library that is human-centred at heart. The integrated co-designed problem-solving processes, guided by the HCD IDEO toolkit, were applied within a focus group setting, and comprised out of seven focus group sessions referred to as HCD team meetings. The focus group sessions consisted out of six HCD team meeting and one member checking contact session, supported by various research phases. The team meetings all considered theoretical constructs within multiple HCD research approaches, including the HCD analysis model, PAR research cycles and the action research model, constantly re-considering existing assumptions and structures within the unique context of a public library setting, but specifically the SPL. Each focus group team meeting, and its subsequent research tools, were tailor-made for the SPL context, considering principles of the co-design process along with the expertise and perceived knowledge structures of the HCD team consisting of the designer (as specialist within practice), the researcher (as specialist academic) and the librarians (as specialists within the SPL and the identified problem). Arising from this complex construction of tools, and subsequent data collected, various findings were made identifying the value and strengths as well as the feasibility of HCD thinking processes and their integration within a ‘real life context’. Summarised findings include: the implementation of co-design processes, PAR repetitive cycles, and the creation of design deliverables answering to identified needs; tensions identified within the co-design process, sparking the beginning of what seems to be a continuous and endless ‘power/authority/expertise struggle’ throughout the problem-solving process; an aesthetic adjustment (with specific reference to graphic design executions identified within traditional design practices) as a result of the co-design process and lastly, a break in HCD co-design thinking, which argues for implementing democratic thinking practice and processes within the production and design application process. Considering the findings on the HCD research process within the context of this research, suggestions towards possible design solutions and future potential applications (within a theoretical context) are made, allowing the research in its specific, public library context, to contribute to HCD theoretical thinking processes and their integration within graphic design research and practice.