Complex decision-making environments often demand that a range of alternative strategies be identified and compared for their shared value in achieving desired ends. Simple parametric statistical procedures such as analysis of variance and discriminant function analysis can be used in such situations to compare (using selected criteria) the value…

Three studies examined the relationship between specific forms of preschoolers' social and pretend play and divergent/convergent problem solving. Naturalistic and experimental designs were used to provide clearer account of relationship and to challenge assumption of single direction of influence. Results support complex reciprocal causality model…

The last article in a special issue on organizational research utilization, this paper discusses "solution environments" (the real or assumed distribution of good and bad solutions to problems), the models underlying the environments, the generation of these models, and solution environments' relationship to research utilization.…

Shows how administrators and teachers can find problems prior to problem solution by taking three steps: Examining the interconnectivity of things, exploring possible and alternative problems, and asking the right questions. Demonstrates how these steps operate in specific situations, and how finding the problem can be an effective tool in…

Solution-focused applications are proposed to assist survivor employees to return to workplace homeostasis after co-workers voluntarily or involuntarily leave the organization. A model for transitional coping is presented as well as a potential case study illustrating the application of the model. Implications for the theory, practice, and…

Solving problems and creating processes and procedures from the ground up has long been part of the IT department's way of operating. IT staffs will continue to encounter new problems to solve and new technologies to be implemented. They also must involve their constituents in the creation of solutions. Nonetheless, for many issues they no longer…

Synthesizing a decade of research, the author describes a taxonomy of meaningful learning. The most meaningful learning outcome is problem solving. In this taxonomy, four different kinds of problem solving are arranged in a hierarchical manner. Prerequisite/corequisite with problem-solving outcomes are two fundamental reasoning skills that…

This paper illustrates three academic units collaborative process to solve a design problem in the development of new wood products for the Historic Boone Tavern Hotel, Berea, Kentucky. The Boone Tavern Hotel chronology and renovation needs after 99 years are summarized. The Berea College Student Crafts Program is then described and the need for a…

The mathematical exercise of the the Prisoner's Dilemma is used to explore the issue of whether present models or paradigms of policy analysis cover the complete range of rational decision making. A review of the competing paradigms of the cybernetic concept, the analytic probability concept, and the cognitive categorization concept reveals…

Several models for problem solving are discussed, and the idea of a heuristic frame is developed. This concept provides a description of the evolution of problem-solving skills in terms of the growth of the number of algorithms available and increased sophistication in their use. The heuristic frame model is applied to two sets of physical…

Proposes a new conceptual framework, embedded in a dynamic model, that accounts for children's failure to reason transitively. Examines five different models of transitive reasoning. Develops a model of how children initially represent and then use the ordered information available in the transitive inference model and how these processes change…

In this note we develop a framework that makes explicit the inherent dynamic structure of certain mathematical definitions by means of the four facets of context-entity-process-object. These facets and their interrelations are then used to capture and interpret specific aspects of student constructions of the concept of solution to first order…

Clinical research in expressive therapies, psychodrama in particular, offer education researchers and software designers descriptive analyses and evidence-based impact studies on attitudinal shifts and enhanced problem solving abilities for patients and students who participate in psychodrama role-play. Gaming environments and virtual worlds that…

This paper presents a brief overview of the changes made during our department level reform (DLR) process (Grant Title: "A Systems Approach for Civil and Environmental Engineering Education: Integrating Systems Thinking, Inquiry-Based Learning and Catamount Community Service-Learning Projects") and some of the effects of these changes on…

This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, Newfoundland. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning.…