The identification of conflict and development of common ground, important steps in the interdisciplinary research process, become challenging when applied to solving complex real-world problems that involve opposing interest groups, especially those whose members do not possess academic or interdisciplinary training. This article examines…

Research shows that mental representation such as analogical reasoning is a fundamental cognitive tool for design problem solving (Daugherty & Mentzer, 2008; Hey, Lensey, Agogino, & Wood, 2008; Lewis, 2008). Not much is known, however, about the way students and professional engineers actively generate and change their mental representation when…

Explaining emergent structure remains a challenge for all areas of cognitive science, and problem solving is no exception. The modern study of insight has drawn attention to the issue of emergent cognitive structure in problem solving research. We propose that the explanation of insight is beyond the scope of conventional approaches to cognitive…

An attempt was made to categorize the levels of thinking of teachers and students, as revealed by their verbal behavior. (Author/CK)

A new way of classifying tasks and problems used in studies with deaf people is presented. It is claimed that this classification system allows for the specification of tasks on which deaf people perform equally well as hearing people and of tasks on which they fail in comparison. (Author)

The effects of memory load (simultaneous or successive presentation), number of trials (two or three), and type of information (positive, negative, or mixed) upon inference task performance of 168 five-year-old children were examined. (Author/JH)

QUESTION-STUDY AS A METHOD FOR INTERPRETING AND MEASURING PROBLEM-SOLVING BEHAVIOR WAS STUDIED. DATA WERE OBTAINED FROM A PREVIOUS STUDY (ED 003 005) AND ANALYZED. ANALYSES WERE PERFORMED TO DETERMINE WHETHER QUESTIONS WERE MORE USEFUL FOR ASSESSING PROBLEM-SOLVING BEHAVIOR THAN ANALYSIS OF SOLUTIONS. TECHNIQUES, FORMULAE, AND RESULTS PERTINENT TO…

A discrimination reversal problem was presented to 192 children varying in age from 3 to 5 years. At the end of both the initial learning and transfer trials, probe trials were introduced to ascertain the response rule describing children's choices. (Author/SB)

The approach to problem solving which is presented has two components--closeness and reformulation. The closeness measure is a cognitively-based heuristic function. It incorporates the notion of what cognition notices as the structural difference between two situations. The problem-solver attempts to close the structural gap, and once this is done…

Reports on a study of the cognitive strategies people use in arriving at judgments about environmental problems. (GW)

Results indicate that the ability to project movement in static inkblots is a distinctive quality of good problem solvers. (Author)

One of the primary course delivery techniques has been the See-Hear-Do model. Under this system, the professor goes through the material and prepares a lecture for the class. The material is then presented to the students, typically using PowerPoint or some other visual graphics. The students are then asked to engage in some exercises, either in…

The problem-solving strategies used by tenth-grade students in the solution of mathematical problems were investigated. Forty students selected from four high schools were given pretests generating sixteen scores related to mathematics achievement, attitude toward mathematics, and other ability measures. These students were then asked to solve…

The series "Soviet Studies in the Psychology of Learning and Teaching Mathematics" is a collection of translations from the Soviet Literature of the past twenty-five years on research in the psychology of mathematical instruction. Also included are works on methods of teaching mathematics directly influenced by this research. The aim of…

The series is a collection of translations from the Soviet literature of the past 25 years on research in the psychology of mathematical instruction and the related methods of teaching mathematics. The aim of the series is to acquaint educators and teachers with directions, ideas, and accomplishments in the psychology of mathematical instruction…