A problem solving environment (PSE) provides all computational facilities necessary for solving a target class of problems efficiently. PSEs are used primarily for domain-specific problem-solving in science and engineering and aim to ease the burden of advanced scientific computing. Scientific problem solving, however, often involves the use of legacy resources which are difficult to modify or port, and may be distributed on different machines. Existing PSEs provide little support for solving such problems in a generic framework. This thesis investigates the design of a platform-independent system that enables problem solving using legacy resources without having to modify legacy code. It presents Symphony, an open and extensible Java-based framework for composition and manipulation of distributed legacy resources. Symphony allows users to compose visually a collection of programs and data by specifying data-flow relationships among them and provides a client/server framework for transparently executing the composed application. Additionally, the framework is web-aware and helps integrate web-based resources with legacy resources. It also enables programmers to provide a graphical interface to legacy applications and to write visualization components. Symphony uses Sun Microsystems' JavaBeans component architecture for providing components that represent legacy resources. These components can be customized and composed in any standard JavaBeans builder tool. Executable components communicate with a server, implemented using Java Remote Method Invocation mechanism, for executing remote legacy applications. Symphony enables extensibility by providing abstract components which can be extended by implementing simple interfaces. Beans implemented from the abstract beans can act as data producers, consumers or filters. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study was to make a comparison of the relative mastery of mathematical vocabulary with skills in general problem solving between two groups of sixth and seventh grade arithmetic students. An effort was made to determine to what extent knowledge of the mathematical vocabulary influenced skills in general problem solving.

The term "resurgence" generally refers to the reappearance of certain behaviors during extinction. Different definitions describe these behaviors as previously reinforced, previously extinguished, or simply previously learned. At first glance, these definitions seem the same. And, researchers have not given much thought to the differences between them. However, these definitions could refer to different initial teaching procedures, and these differences may produce different results during extinction. The present study used the Portable Operant Research and Teaching Lab (PORTL) to examine how differences in the initial teaching procedure affected the behavior of college students during extinction. In the first condition, participants learned four behaviors. Each behavior was extinguished before the next behavior was taught. When all four behaviors were put on extinction, they resurged in the reverse order from how they were taught. A second condition followed the same procedure as the first with one difference. Each behavior was not extinguished before the next behavior was taught. When these four behaviors were put on extinction, they resurged in the order they were learned. These results indicate that the initial training procedure can influence the order in which behaviors appear during extinction.

På vilket sätt kan vi hjälpa alla elever att bli förtrogna med matematikens uttrycksformer? Ett sätt är att bygga en stadig aritmetisk grund för eleverna där de befäster talens innehåll. Det är vad den här uppsatsen handlar om. Uppsatsen beskriver vad som skiljer användandet av del-helhetsrelationer från andra sätt att lösa öppna utsagor på. Uppsatsen beskriver även vilka kritiska aspekter om öppna utsagor som kan förekomma hos elever i årskurs 1 och 2. Uppsat-sen är skriven ur en fenomenografisk ansats med variationsteoretiska inslag eftersom de två teorierna är nära besläktade. Studien genomfördes genom filmade intervjuer med 11 elever som valdes ut genom en munt-lig och en skriftlig diagnos samt ett skriftligt arbetsblad. Resultatet visar att elever som använ-der automatiserade del-helhetsrelationer har en fördel när de löser öppna utsagor jämfört med elever som använder andra lösningsmetoder. Skillnaderna syns tydligt när det gäller lösandet av öppna subtraktionsutsagor där helheten saknas. En väg till den abstrakta förståelsen för tals del-helhetsrelationer går via fingertalen. Min slutsats är att eleverna redan tidigt i skolan måste få undervisning om fingertalen samt talens del-helhetsrelationer för att undvika att de utvecklar matematiksvårigheter. / How can we help all students to become confident with the concepts of mathematics? One way is to build a firm arithmetic foundation for students where they consolidate the content of the numbers. That is what this thesis is about. The thesis describes what differentiates the use of part-whole relationships from other ways to solve missing number bonds. The thesis also describes the critical aspects of missing number bonds that may be found in students in grades 1 and 2. The thesis is written from a phenomenographic approach with elements of variation theory, since the two theories are closely related. The study was conducted by videotaped interviews with 11 students selected through an oral test, a written test and a written worksheet. The result shows that the students who use auto-mated part-whole relationships when solving missing number bonds have an advantage com-pared to students who use other solving methods. The differences are clearly visible when it comes to solving missing number bonds in subtraction where the whole is missing. One path to the abstract understanding of the part-whole relationships goes through the finger num-bers. My conclusion is that the students must be taught the finger numbers and the part-whole relationships early in the education, to prevent them from getting into mathematical difficulties.

Previous research has indicated that depression and thinking style (rumination versus distraction) interact to influence cognitive processing. Depressed ruminators produce more categoric autobiographical memories (AM) (i.e., a summary of repeated memories), and also demonstrate poorer SPS performance than depressed distracters and matched controls. The quality of AM retrieval during SPS is also related to the effectiveness of SPS solutions such that categoric AM retrieval during SPS contributes to poorer SPS. Therefore, the first aim of this thesis was to extend previous work by further investigating how an induced rumination/distraction influences subsequent AM retrieval during SPS and SPS performance. The first two studies examined how thinking style influences SPS and AM retrieval during SPS in a dysphoric (study 1) versus clinically depressed sample (study 2). The results indicated that rumination has a detrimental effect on SPS in both dysphoric and clinically depressed samples, with more pronounced effects in the clinical group. Rumination also appeared to influence AM retrieval during SPS for the clinically depressed group but not the dysphoric group. Moreover, in both samples, SPS performance was associated with the type of AM retrieval involved in the SPS process. As most studies investigating cognitive processes in depression have focused on Western people, a second aim of this thesis was to examine the association between thinking style, AM retrieval and SPS performance in depression from a cross-cultural perspective. The first cross-cultural study (Study 3) looked at AM retrieval on the AMT cueing task and the second cross-cultural study (Study 4) investigated whether these associations between thinking style, SPS and AM retrieval would vary across different cultures. Culture interacted with depression to influence AM retrieval on the AMT cueing task. However study 4 demonstrated that there seemed to be no interaction between culture, rumination and depression on SPS performance and AM retrieval during SPS.

Syftet med studien var att utvärdera om samarbetsbaserad problemlösning (SBP) är ett effektivt verktyg för pedagoger att hjälpa elever som har bristande sociala, känslomässiga eller beteendemässiga färdigheter. Studien avsåg också undersöka om implementeringen av SBP hade någon ytterligare inverkan på pedagogernas arbete utöver det direkta arbetet med enskilda elever. Studien kastar också ljus över vilken betydelse relationen mellan lärare och elev har för elevers utveckling. Studien baseras på pedagogernas egna uppfattningar av vad implementeringen av SBP har bidragit till. För att utvärdera effekterna och upplevelserna av den samarbetsbaserade problemlösningsmodellen användes det standardiserade bedömningsinstrumentet, The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) samt en egen utformad kvalitativ enkät.   Resultatet av denna studie visar att pedagogerna upplever att SBP är ett effektivt verktyg för att hjälpa elever att utveckla bristande sociala, känslomässiga och beteendemässiga färdigheter. Implementeringen av SBP har dessutom bidragit till att pedagogerna har fått ett gemensamt språk och tankesätt samt samarbetar bättre med varandra. Pedagogerna har också fått ett mer salutogent synsätt. Tidigare fokuserade pedagogerna främst på vad eleverna inte kan, och nu ligger fokus på att finna lösningar. Implementeringen av SBP har vidare bidragit till ett ökat deltagande för eleverna, eleverna får göra sina röster hörda och blir lyssnade på i större utsträckning. / The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether collaborative problem solving (CPS) is an effective tool for educators to help students who are lacking social, emotional or behavioral skills. The study also aimed to examine whether the implementation had any further impact on teachers' work in addition to their direct work with individual students. The study sheds light on the significance of the relationship between teacher and student, when it comes to students' development. The study is based on teachers own perceptions of what the implementation has contributed to. This study's evaluation of the effects and experiences of the collaborative problem solving model used standardized assessment instruments, The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and a self -designed qualitative survey.   The results show that teachers perceive that CPS is an effective tool for helping students to develop lacking social, emotional and behavioral skills. The implementation of the CPS model has contributed to the educators' development of a common language and way of thinking, which has improved the overall collaboration at work. The teachers have also been given a more salutogenic approach. Previously the educators primarily focused on what students cannot do, and now they focus on finding solutions. The implementation of the CPS has further contributed to increased participation of the students, the students can make their voices heard and are being listened to more closely.

This investigation concerned the effect of nurse educator/nursing student learning style match on the latter's problem solving ability. Problem solving ability was defined as the processes of finding facts, problems, ideas, solutions and their acceptance in other than past experience, tradition and habit. The underlying conceptual framework was Kolb's holistic model of experiential learning which combines experience, perception, cognition and behavior. The model has vertical and horizontal axes resulting in four quadrants or kinds of learners: diverger, assimilator, converger and accommodator. Instruments used were Kolb's Learning Style Inventory and Gover's Nursing Performance Simulation Instrument.

The subject of this thesis is the identification of strategies, which are used by lower-secondary school students when solving problem tasks in chemistry. The strategies were identified during talks with ninth-grade students. The talks conducted by using the Think-aloud method were connected with solution of selected problem tasks. The ascertained strategies were classified as expansive strategies (such strategy can be used to solve more types of problems) and limiting strategies (such strategy can be used to solve easy task, but they can fail when solving more difficult tasks). Furthermore, reader's strategies, which help students to understand the tasks were separately identified. Also, other problems that students had to face when solving the tasks were identified. To identify problematic elements a collection of problem tasks named Metodické komentáře a úlohy ke standardům pro základní vzdělávání - chemie (Methodical comments and tasks for educational standards for elementary education - chemistry) were used. The results showed that when students solved the tasks, which were larger and more difficult, they often used reading strategies, which consist in multiple reading and reading aloud. Some of the expansive strategies the students used consisted in analogous deducing and logical reasoning....

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka olika stödstrukturer som kan stödja elever när de tarsig an textbaserade problemlösningsuppgifter. Detta har skett genom en systematisklitteraturstudie som sedan resulterade i flera kategorier av stödstrukturer. I studiens resultatsynliggjordes tre huvudkategorier av stödstrukturer: Orienterande stödstrukturer,Digitaliserade stödstrukturer och Visuellt organiserande stödstrukturer. Den sistnämndeinnehöll två underkategorier som fick benämningen, Schema-baserade samt Visuellarepresentationer. Vår slutsats av denna studie var att ett begränsat antal elevanpassadestödstrukturer från de olika kategorierna är att rekommendera för elever som tar sig antextbaserade problemlösningsuppgifter. / Problem solving is a part of school mathematics and students require different types ofsupport. The purpose of this study is to examine the different types of support structureswhich can support students when they try to solve text-based problem-solving tasks. Thisstudy uses a systematic literature study as means to identify different categories of supportstructures. The result identified three main categories which are: Orientating supportstructure, Digitalization support structure and Visual organization support structure. Thelatter contains two subcategories which are, Schema-based and Visual representation. Ourconclusion of this study suggests that a limited amount of student adapted support structuresfrom the different categories is to be recommended for students who are solving text-basedproblem-solving tasks.

This study is centred on an analysis of pupils' lived experience while engaged in the generalisation of linear sequences/progressions presented in a pictorial context. The study is oriented within the conceptual framework of qualitative research, and is anchored within an interpretive paradigm. A case study methodological strategy was adopted, the research participants being the members of a mixed gender, high ability Grade 9 class of 23 pupils at an independent school in South Africa. The analytical framework is structured around a combination of complementary multiple perspectives provided by three theoretical ideas, enactivism, figural apprehension, and knowledge objectification. An important aspect of this analytical framework is the sensitivity it shows to the visual, phenomenological and semiotic aspects of figural pattern generalisation. It is the central thesis of this study that the combined complementary multiple perspectives of enactivism, figural apprehension and knowledge objectification provide a powerful depth of analysis to the exploration of the inter-relationship between the embodied processes of pattern generalisation and the visualisation of pictorial cues. The richly textured tapestry of activity captured through a multi-systemic semiotic analysis of participants' generalisation activity stands testament to this central thesis. Insights gleaned from this study are presented as practical strategies which support and encourage a multiple representational approach to pattern generalisation in the pedagogical context of the classroom.