In project or program planning, a Gantt or PERT chart is usually employed as a graphical representation of schedule for activities. Planners utilize this chart in performing analyses such as the Critical Path Method (CPM) and Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT). Very little effort, however, has been devoted to the formulation of activity networks, which is the initial step before aforementioned analyses. This research addresses this problem by developing a systematic methodology to aid in the identification and rapid structuring of a system of activities. The theoretical foundation of the methodology is based on Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM). It consists of seven basic steps: (l) identifying the activities in the set; (2) identifying the set of relation statements; (3)identifying the initial input; (4) establishing a transitive inference mechanism based upon previous responses; (5) generating a logical combination of relationships based on previous responses; (6) storing the relationship for each pair of activities in a relation matrix; and (7) outputting the relationships in the form of a simplified Gantt chart. The merits of applying this methodology include (1) efficiency in activity structuring and (2) avoidance of illogical and inconsistent sequential relationship specifications. A "Business Appreciation" example is used in illustrating the application of this methodology. It reveals that 85% of a total of 120 possible sequential activity relationships can be deduced without asking for information from the user. In general, over 57% of the sequential relationships can be inferred without input by the user. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

This study was conducted to examine the relationships among teachers' playfulness scores and creativity scores and their styles of interaction with children in a play environment. The Play Interaction Scale, the Multidimensional Stimulus Fluency Measure (MSFM), and the Adult Behavior Inventory were administered to 46 students (future teachers) and 37 teachers of three- and four-year-old children in group settings. The Play Interaction Scale, developed for this study, was based on the five environmental components identified by Rubin, Fein, and Vandenberg (l983) as facilitative of play. The instrument was comprised of 20 play vignettes. Subjects indicated the frequency with which they might respond in a structured, elaborative, or unstructured manner to each vignette. The subjects' creativity was measured by using the MSFM and playfulness was determined by each subject evaluating themselves on the Adult Behavior Inventory. Pearson product-moment correlations were computed for the teacher group and the student group. The expected relationships between creativity, and playfulness, and an elaborative teaching style were found for the student group. However, the elaborative style of interaction and ideational fluency were not significantly related in either group. The predicted negative correlation between creativity and a structured interaction style was found only for teachers. / Master of Science

Workflow management in problem solving environments (PSEs) is an emerging topic that aims to combine both data-oriented and execution-oriented views of scientific experiments, and closely integrate the processes underlying the practice of computational science with the software artifacts constituted by the PSE. This thesis presents a workflow management solution called BREW (BetteR Experiments through Workflow management) that provides functionality along four dimensions: components and installation management, experiment execution management, data management, and (full fledged) workflow management. BREW builds upon EMDAG, a first generation experiment management system designed at Virginia Tech which provided rudimentary facilities for supporting (only) the first two functionalities. BREW provides a complete dynamic workflow management solution wherein the PSE user can compose arbitrary scientific experiments and specify intended dynamic behavior of these experiments to an extent not previously possible. Along with the design details of the BREW system, this thesis identifies important tradeoffs underlying workflow management for PSEs, and presents two case studies involving large-scale data assimilation in bioinformatics experiments. / Master of Science

Effects of mind wandering on creative thinking is unclear in the literature. Using multiple measures of mind wandering and creativity, the current study investigates the role of different contexts on the relationship between mind wandering and creative thinking. Thought probes measured intentionality and freely moving dimensions of mind wandering in a lexical decision and a movie task (between-subjects). Three measures of attention control were also obtained. Deliberate and spontaneous mind wandering traits were measured with a survey. Participants did not show off-task behaviors during the mind wandering tasks. Attention control positively predicted creative problem solving and divergent thinking scores. Freely moving thought did not predict creative thinking. Deliberate mind wandering positively predicted creative problem-solving scores above and beyond attention control.

Salient features of a task play an important role in how people create task representations which then influence strategy selection for accomplishing the task. We examined two theories, Represent-Construct-Choose-Learn and Rational Metareasoning, both of which incorporate task features into their models of strategy selection but differ in feature set modification. We used the Building Sticks Task (BST) in which it has been shown that people are sensitive to a salient feature in the BST to test the predictions of both theories. The results showed that neither theory aligned closely with empirical data. Additionally, we investigated participants’ strategy preferences in BST and explored the potential influence of recent strategy use. Our findings revealed a preference for the undershoot strategy and a recency effect favoring the overshoot strategy. These findings highlight the complex nature of strategy selection and emphasize the significance of considering how task features, strategy preferences, and recency effects interact.

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Epitomizing the cognitive process of problem identification is diagnosis. Contrary to many areas of professional expertise (e.g., medicine, architecture), studies of expertise in reading diagnosis suggest that diagnosticians identify problems idiosyncratically, with little Intra- or inter-diagnostician consistency in cue selection and hypothesis generation. Further, their prescriptions appear to be unrelated to their diagnoses. A close examination of this research indicates use of a treatment which restricted the cues which naturally occur in the typical diagnostic process. ln addition, the data analysis focused only on the product (i.e., the diagnosis and prescription), neglecting study of the actual process. The purpose of this study was to trace the diagnostic process, examining the cue utilization and hypothesis generation strategies, diagnoses, and prescriptions within and across five expert reading diagnosticians. Each diagnostician completed tive different experimental sessions with live different clients. Each session consisted of a preparation, Interaction, written diagnosis, and summary stage. The sessions were varied by mode of Interaction with the client (live, videotaped, and boxed tile with audiotape), time allocated to each stage, and method of verbal report (on-line think alouds or stimulated recalls). The major data sources were the verbal reports, the diagnosticians’ notes, and the written diagnosis. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of the single, multiple, and missing cues, inferences, and hypotheses was conducted. Diagnoses and prescriptions were compared to the aforementioned cues and hypotheses to determine Intra- and inter-diagnostician consistency. The three general sources of cues and hypotheses emanated from the client, the task environment, and background experiences, Cue selection strategies, selected cues, and related hypotheses were Iargely consistent within diagnosticians, with variations attributable to differences in treatment and/or individual client. lnterdiagnostician consistency was lower and related to training experiences, present instructional assignments, and conceptions of assessment. Across all diagnosticians and sessions, the availability of critical cues became the criteria for reaching a diagnosis and prescription. Generally, the diagnosticians were consistent across client, with variations again influenced by the availability of cues during the process. In effect, then, the activities and information selected during the diagnostic process varied across diagnostician, but the final products (the diagnosis and prescription) were Iargely similar. / Ed. D.

There is considerable agreement that additional training and research is needed in problem-solving, an advanced counselor skill. This study assessed the effect of systematic problem-solving training on paraprofessionals' competence in counseling interactions with coached "clients." Two groups of 36 students, enrolled in two counseling courses, formed the experimental and control groups. The experimental design consisted of pre- and two postassessments of problem-solving variables. Treatment included didactic presentations and directed practice in five 2-1/2 hour sessions using Robert Carkhuff's model. Data from the two groups was compared using an instrument developed specifically for this study. A pilot test was run to determine reliability of the instrument. Results from the experiment indicate a statistically significant difference between the two groups at the .01 level of significance. It was concluded that Carkhuff's systematic training does make a positive difference in trainees' problem-solving competence. The instrument was found to be reliable, however, continued research is suggested. / Ed. D.

There are a variety of creative problem solving techniques. Selected techniques are compared and contrasted and an ideal type is developed. The Idea Machine (TIM) is introduced and the six major steps involved with the technique are described. Results of using TIM in conjunction with three projects are presented. Improvements in TI:M sessions are described and insights associated with sessions in the second project are highlighted. Evaluations by participants are introduced and discussed. TIM is compared with the ideal type technique. It is concluded that while TIM is not comparable to this ideal in every respect, evaluations suggest that it is an extremely effective creative problem solving technique. / Ph. D.

In this project I study introductory undergraduate physics classrooms as critical sites in the development of students’ relationships with physics. Drawing on interviews with students, observations of classrooms, and analyses of textbooks, I compare introductory undergraduate courses in physics required for engineering majors, physics majors, and students in the life sciences, respectively to understand the ways that students in each class come to understand themselves as physics learners. Some of the students whose stories I will attempt to capture are learning to think like physicists, some are learning to incorporate physics into their engineering work and method, some are learning what role physics might play in their lives if they will be neither physicists nor engineers. All of these relationships depend on particular assumptions about what it means to become a physicist, or an engineer, or a biologist, or a non-scientist. In short, they are all thoroughly intertwined with identity. What I want to understand about learning physics is what it has to do with identity--how it participates in the fashioning of different kinds of student selves, and how in turn those student identities participate in defining and maintaining the disciplinary identity of physics. / Master of Science