Studies of creativity have generally dealt with the creative act, typically defined as the statistically infrequent approach to problem solving. A study was conducted to determine whether a relationship exists between problem discovery and originality of the written product, and whether problem-finding behavior may be observed in student writers.…

The general hypotheses derived from a series of six experiments in instructional theory were as follows: that the individually optimal reading sequence of juxtaposed, but mutally related, prose text depends on learning goal and pre-knowledge; that adult learners are able to approach this reading sequence through their own decisions; and that…

The project consisted of three related series of studies, designed to (a) determine some of the underlying competencies that contribute to experts' successful problem solving performance in college level mathematics, (b) to determine what productive behaviors students lack, or what counterproductive behaviors they have, that keep them from being…

This study reports an investigation of the way in which distance students use course materials and plan their work in order to complete mathematics exercises. Two undergraduate students of mathematics and one graduate student were asked to complete a course exercise using standard course materials under distance studying conditions. They…

Error analysis performed on data sets revealed that seventh grade students used a variety of rules of operation for solving the signed-number arithmetic problems. The data sets were obtained from an experimental study in which students were randomly assigned to study either of two lessons written on a computer based education system. The two…

This research involved the observation and audio-recording of 30 ninth-grade mathematics students recommended as being outstanding by their mathematics teachers. Each student was presented with five different problem situations for which he or she was to make mathematical conjectures. During the interview, the students thought aloud and all of…

A study was designed to investigate forms of human internal knowledge organization that facilitate the recall of information or its use for complex problem solving tasks. Three experiments, using college and high school physics students, were performed. The effects were studied by: (1) formulating explicit models of organization; (2) using…

The conceptual and problem solving skills of Hawaiian rural elementary school students in the Kamehameha Early Education Program were investigated by comparing the logical connecting rules of conjunction (red and triangle) to inclusive disjunction (red and/or triangle) with respect to Traditional problems (selection of attributes from 2 different…

Solving equations in elementary algebra requires knowledge of the permitted operations, and knowledge of what operation to use at a given point in the solution process. While just these kinds of knowledge would be adequate for an ideal solver, human solvers appear to need and use other kinds of knowledge. First, many errors seem to indicate that…

A study of the responses made to problems selected from Raven's Progressive Matrices showed differences in the kinds of errors typically made by eighteen-year-old students. Nine problems were used and the 68 subjects were told to draw their answers on the answer sheets. There were two trials per puzzle. A classification system, devised for errors,…

MENTAL ABILITY CAN BE MEASURED BY THE PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESS RATHER THAN BY THE NUMBER OF CORRECT SOLUTIONS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY ARE--(1) TO DEVELOP AND STUDY PROPERTIES OF MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES WHICH REVEAL THE PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESS, (2) TO DEVELOP WAYS OF DESCRIBING INDIVIDUALS THROUGH THEIR PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESSES, AND (3) TO…

A REVIEW OF THEORY AND EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON "THE LEARNING BY DISCOVERY HYPOTHESIS," AND RELATED LITERATURE ON CONCEPT-LEARNING AND PROBLEM-SOLVING, WAS PREPARED FOR A CONFERENCE IN NEW YORK CITY, 1965. RECENT CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES IN THE SUBJECT AREA WERE DESCRIBED. ATTEMPTS WERE MADE TO IDENTIFY INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES AND…

Computer coaching of students as an aid in problem-solving instruction is discussed. This report describes an advanced form of computer-assisted instruction that must not only present the material to be taught, but also analyze the student's responses. The program must decide whether to intervene and how much to say to a pupil based on its…