One hundred and sixty-two subjects of three age levels were tested to examine the relationship between crystallized and fluid abilities and three problem solving tasks varying in the abstractness/concreteness of their stimuli and emphasis on past experience. These dimensions have been used by Davis to distinguish between Type "O" and Type "C"…

Effects of an advance organizer lesson (containing high-order science concepts relating to the law of capillary attraction, and an elementary problem-solving strategy for determining causal relations) were evaluated for a sample of 80 urban 6- and 10-year-old children. Significant sequential transfer effects were established from the lesson.…

This study of problem solving and conceptual tempo had two objectives: (1) to begin to clarify the underlying deficiencies which contribute to the less efficient information processing of impulsive children (as compared with reflective children) during problem solving; and (2) to demonstrate the utility of using a task analysis as a…

Reports on an experiment in which students were taught the learning skills necessary for the understanding of a physical definition or law and those skills necessary for a type of problem solving. Results indicate that students can be taught such general cognitive skills and that they can transfer these skills to areas outside of physics.…

Numerous mathematical examples are presented which illustrate and raise questions about students' tendencies to overgeneralize. (BB)

A battery of problem solving and divergent thinking tasks was administered to 91 fifth graders to identify a factor that could be labeled problem solving and be distinct from divergent thinking. In several factor analyses, three factors consistently emerged: fluency, problem solving, and academic achievement. (Author/RD)

Two simple quantitative models were derived from a series of experiments which explored the role of information storage in working memory when performing mental arithmetic. The decay model is a tractable analysis of a complex task which assumes a decay process in working storage. Similar analyses are recommended for problem solving activities…

Tree searching was applied as a computer model of simple addition sentences. Results indicated that the number of problem reductions performed in tree searching accounted for most of the variance across problems in student error rate and solution time. The technique constitutes a computer test for the adequacy of a problem solving prescription.…

Presents a problem-solving model comprised of nine generalizations derived from the methods and principles which guided the investigations of the fictional London detective, Sherlock Holmes. (EM)

Presents a study of inferential problem solving abilities of 5-year-old children. Tasks involved the combination of separately acquired behavior segments in order to solve a novel problem. (BD)

Illustrates that a view of the nature of science is dependent upon underlying assumptions concerning scientific proof. Compares the inductive view of science with the non-inductive viewpoint of Karl Popper. (CP)

To determine if the modality in which children represent information in memory influences the process by which problems are solved, problem-solving strategy of deaf and hearing 10-year-old children was compared on a concept-discovery task. (JMB)

Some of the limitations of the lecture method for teaching analysis are discussed, some thoughts about the relevance of theories of personality type and learning style to the teaching of problem solving are offered, and a list of resources is given. (Author/MLW)

Reports three experiments with kindergartners and first graders which used one-trial multidimensional reasoning tasks like those of Toppino (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, v30, p496-512, 1980). Feedback information and preliminary experience with simple forms of the task produced high performance levels, and verbal labeling in the…

This article focuses on two approaches to teaching reasoning and problem solving. One emphasizes the role of domain-specific knowledge; the other emphasizes general strategic and metacognitive knowledge. Many instructional programs are based on the latter approach. The article concludes that these programs can be strengthened by focusing on domain…