A quasi-systematic strategy of devising rule sets for problem solving is applied to ruler and compass geometrical constructions. "Lower order" rules consisting of basic skills and "higher order" rules which govern the selection and combination of lower order rules are identified by an analysis of problem types; three types of…

Planning the menu for a dinner party, which involves problem-solving with a large body of knowledge, is used to study the daily operation of human memory. Verbal protocol analysis, a technique devised to investigate formal problem-solving, is examined theoretically and adapted for analysis of this task. (Author/MV)

Corporate and educational settings increasingly require decision making, problem solving and other complex cognitive skills to handle ill-structured, or heuristic, tasks, but the growing need for heuristic task expertise has outpaced the refinement of task analysis methods for heuristic expertise. The Heuristic Task Analysis (HTA) Method was…

A planning model for the identification of components, activities, and tasks in educational programs and problem solving situations is described. (RAO)

Tool use consists of at least two coupled phases of activities, involving multi-step problem solving. It therefore provides an interesting window on the development of planning in goal-directed behavior. This study investigated 2-year-olds' and 3-year-olds' hand use in picking up and subsequently using a tool for displacing a target-object towards…

In order to examine more closely the ways that children use socially constructed dialogue to mediate task mastery a hierarchical set of computer tasks were presented in an animated game format (ToonTalk) to three adult/child (US Kindergarten) dyads over five sessions. Transcriptions of the adult-child talk were used to determine (1) the types of…

In this study, the authors used two methods for analyzing expert data: verbal protocol analysis (VPA) and narrative analysis. VPA has been effectively used to describe the design processes employed by engineering students, expert designers, and expert-novice comparative research. VPA involves asking participants to "think aloud" while…

The effects of dissonant and consonant music on cognitive performance were examined. Situational dissonance and consonance were also tested and determined as the state where one's opinion is contrasted or matched with the majority's opinion, respectively. Subjects performed several cognitive tasks while listening to a melody arranged dissonantly,…

Discusses many factors involved in determining the complex nature of a child's knowledge base. Includes three kinds of considerations: 1) task-oriented criteria; 2) motivational elements; and 3) the relationship between personality and performance. (Author/CS)

Methods for examining the processes being utilized in meetings and evaluating them to increase the effectiveness of organizations are described. (AJ)

This paper describes an approach to task analysis which seeks to identify potential sources of difficulty in the self-discovery of improved procedures by students who have been taught simpler procedures. The approach considers novices' procedures in terms of the changes needed to produce an expert procedure; the knowledge required to make those…

The concept of an algorithm derives from the physical sciences, but it has often been misunderstood and misapplied in the social sciences and in education. The theoretical and practical significance of algorithms stems from their applicability to problems of learning, instruction, and instructional design, and they may potentially provide the…

Discussed in this report is a technique used in cross-cultural research for measuring cognitive processes in children and youth. The research strategy aims at evaluating the subject's performances on problem solving tasks by having subjects become active agents in the discovery process while experimenters remain as passive and neutral as possible.…

This discussion of transitive inferences (if A greater than B & B greater than C, then A greater thean C) emphasizes an information processing analysis of logical thought. The two basic factors considered in such an analysis are (1) the task environment, including its structure, demands, decisions required, and information given; and (2) the…

The training requirements associated with equipment and systems utilized in underwater salvage operations and with the diving activities which are a part of underwater salvage operations are examined. The major emphasis of the study was on the training conditions suitable for the diver. It was found that divers are best trained in a tank or in…