This work set out to investigate two questions: 1) what is the state of qualitative understanding of magnetism at various stages of expertise? 2) What approaches to problem-solving are used across the spectrum of expertise? I studied three groups: ten novices (university students who had completed one introductory course in electricity and magnetism), ten experts-in-training (upper division and graduate students) and 11 experts (physics professors and researchers). Data collection involved structured interviews during which participants solved a series of non-standard problems in magnetism while thinking out loud. The problems were designed to test for conceptual understanding. The interviews were audio taped, transcribed, and analyzed using a grounded theory approach. None of the novices and only a few of the experts in training showed a strong understanding of inductance, magnetic energy, and magnetic pressure; and for the most part they tended not to approach problems visually. Novices frequently described gist memories of demonstrations, text book problems, and rules (heuristics). However, these fragmentary mental models were not complete enough to allow them to reason productively. Experts-in-training were able to solve problems that the novices were not able to solve, many times simply because they had greater recall of the material, and therefore more confidence in their facts. Much of their thinking was concrete, based on mentally manipulating objects. Three, however, exhibited traits of experts, albeit not consistently. The experts solved most of the problems in ways that were both effective and efficient. Part of the efficiency derived from their ability to visualize and thus reason in terms of field lines. / text

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The aim of this study is to analyse how mathematical problem solving (MPS) is represented in mathematical textbooks for Swedish upper secondary school. The analysis comprises dominating Swedish textbook series, and relates to uncovering a) the quantity of tasks that are actually mathematical problems (MPs), b) their location in the chapter, c) their difficulty level, and d) their context. Based on an analysis of 5,722 tasks from the area of calculus, it is concluded that the textbooks themselves contain very few tasks that can be defined as MPs, and that those that are MPs are found at the end of a chapter at the most difficult level, and are presented in a pure mathematical context. Implications are discussed.

Previous studies have sought to investigate the effects of rumination and distraction on social problem-solving, mood and confidence of dysphoric and depressed individuals. The current study is aimed at extending this literature by examining the effects of rumination on parental problem-solving, mood and problem-solving confidence among dysphoric post-natal women. Fifty-nine post-natal women took part in the study and were allocated to either the dysphoric or control group based upon the Edinburgh Post-natal Depression Scale (Cox, Holden & Sagovsky, 1987). Women were asked to complete measures of mood, confidence and four problem-solving tasks following a rumination or distraction mood induction. Results indicated that dysphoric post-natal women induced to ruminate showed poorer problemsolving and lower mood than dysphoric women induced to distract and non-dysphoric women induced to distract or ruminate. No significant differences were seen in reported confidence levels for dysphoric post-natal women induced to ruminate than dysphoric women induced to distract and non-dysphoric women induced to distract or ruminate. Consideration is given to the clinical implications of these findings as well as the limitations and possibilities for future research.

The study analyzed the impact of a social skills intervention pogram with adolescent students with learning disabilities attending a school for dyslexia in central Texas. Participants of the study were 8 students aged 11 through 13. Participants were equally assigned to the intervention and control groups based on their schedules. A six-session social skills intervention program was provided to students in the intervention condition during their enrichment hours, while the control students continued to attend their regular classroom activities during this period. Non-parametric test statistics (Wilcoxon signed-rank Test and Mann Whitney U) were utilized to assess within group differences from pre- to post-test and between group differences, respectively. The results of the study suggested that even though no statistically significant differences between control and intervention groups were observed at the pre-test, scores on the Social Problem Solving Inventory-Adolescent, at post-test indicated that the intervention group significantly outperformed the control group. Neither the control nor the intervention group demonstrated any significant improvement from pre- to post-test. / text

published_or_final_version / abstract / Education / Master / Master of Education

No description available.

Η παρούσα εργασία έχει ως θέμα τη μαθηματική απόδειξη και την διαδικασία επίλυσης προβλήματος. Στόχος της είναι αρχικά, να παρουσιάσει το θεωρητικό υπόβαθρο που διέπει αυτά τα δύο θέματα και να κάνει μια σύγκριση ώστε να αναδειχθούν οι διαφορές τους και οι ομοιότητες τους. Στην συνέχεια, γίνεται μια σύντομη παρουσίαση των Αναλυτικών Προγραμμάτων και των διδακτικών εγχειριδίων των Μαθηματικών του Λυκείου για το χρονικό διάστημα από τα τέλη της δεκαετίας του 1980 έως σήμερα έχοντας ως κύριο άξονα, την απόδειξη και την επίλυση προβλήματος. Κατόπιν, με την βοήθεια μιας δραστηριότητας κατάλληλα διαμορφωμένης εξετάζετε ο ρόλος των παραπάνω στους μαθητές και τέλος, γίνετε μια σύντομη ανάλυση της Γραμμικής και Δομικής μορφής της απόδειξης, όπως αυτή είχε προταθεί από τον Uri Leron και μια συγκριτική παρουσίαση των αποδείξεων κάποιων θεωρημάτων του σχολικού βιβλίου της Γεωμετρίας της Α΄ Λυκείου (Αργυρόπουλος Η.) και με τις δύο μορφές. / The objective of this Master Thesis is the presentation of the Mathematical Proof and Problem Solving. Its aim is initially to present the theoretical background behind these two issues and a comparison between the Mathematical Proof and Problem Solving with respect to their similarities and differences takes place. Then a brief presentation of the curriculum programs as well as the school books of mathematics is given. This presentation is about the time period from the late decade of 1980 up to date, mostly concerning the Mathematical Proof and Problem Solving. Moreover, using a suitably formulated activity, the role of the above over the students is studied. Finally, a concise analysis of Linear and Structural style of proof as it suggested by Uri Leron is given. The thesis is completed with the presentation of three theorems along with their proofs (Linear style) as they are stated in the section of "Inequality Relationships" of Geometry school book of A Lyceum class (Αργυρόπουλος Η. 2008), while for each proof its Structural style is also given.

No description available.