Background: A defining characteristic of expertise is the use of intuition to navigate tasks. The construct of intuition and its importance is well-studied in other disciplines, but little is known about how it translates to engineering. Existing literature on intuition does not clearly define the construct and its relationship to problem solving,…

The present study aims to describe and characterize the insights of elementary school students during the collaborative solving of mathematics problems. A total of 10 elementary school 60-min math classes were analyzed, with each session documented by videotaping the interaction of groups of 3 to 6 children. The study included 41 students in total…

This paper reports on an exploratory study about probabilistic intuition in learning mathematics for decision-making. The analysis was carried out on a group of high school students in relation to their probabilistic intuition in problem-solving, after performing playful learning activities on a simulation platform specifically designed for this…

This study aimed to portray insightful problem solvers. Participants solved classic insight problems and rebuses and completed cognitive and creativity tasks. Grouping the participants based on their success in solving insight problems of different modalities revealed that 95% of the spatial problem solvers succeeded in solving verbal ones…

The starting reasoning and promoting switch from intuitive system 1 to deliberate system 2 for provoking creative thinking is lacking feasible model, especially during the global pandemic. We established a visible, trainable and learnable (VTL) model with digital technique to promote this dual switch for creative thinking. This study was…

When authoring physics problems, professors may develop an intuition for how much information they need to provide such that the problem has a unique answer and is not over constrained. It is an open question as to whether using intuition leads to a sufficiently broad range of problems. In this paper we discuss a systematic way of authoring…

The purpose of this study is to investigate students' thinking of direct, inverse and nonproportional problems. Thirty two seventh grade students from three different government schools participated in this study. To collect the data, the participants were asked to solve 9 open-ended problems, including 3 direct, 3 inverse and 3 non-proportional…

The purpose of this article is to conduct a mathematical and phenomenological comparison of three concepts: (1) the finite limit of a function at a point, (2) the finite limit of a sequence, and (3) the infinite limit of a sequence. Additionally, we aim to analyse the presence of these concepts in Spanish textbooks. The methodology employed is…

Participants rated Intuition, Suddenness, Pleasure, and Certainty accompanying their solutions to items of a popular fluid intelligence test -- Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM) -- that varied from easy (around 80% correct) to difficult (around 20% correct). The same ratings were collected from four insight problems interleaved with…

Chance favors the prepared mind, said Louis Pasteur. Sometimes, significant breakthroughs occur when we creatively integrate new information, leading to a creative insight or an Aha! moment, while at other times when we fail to use a clue, we remain stuck in our habitual thinking patterns. In this study, we hypothesized that the brain's transient…

Even after many decades of productive research, problem solving instruction is still considered ineffective. In this study we address some limitations of extant problem solving models related to the phenomenon of insight during problem solving. Currently, there are two main views on the source of insight during problem solving. Proponents of the…

Engineering technology students often forgo a methodical approach of solving or answering questions on assignments or exams in favor of an intuition-based approach, emphasizing educated guessing (Broberg et al., 2008). Faculty observations have noted these student solutions often provide explanations, usually sans calculations, to support answers…

Insight problems are difficult because the initially activated knowledge hinders successful solving. The crucial information needed for a solution is often so far removed that gaining access to it through restructuring leads to the subjective experience of "Aha!". Although this assumption is shared by most insight theories, there is…

Intuition is one of the main factors that drive our everyday decision-making which happens quickly and unconsciously. Individuals often rely on the use of intuition to solve either simple or complex problems. The purpose of this research study is to further break down an individual's thinking processes by understanding how different groups of…

Research over the past 20 years has suggested that our intuitive sense of number--the Approximate Number System (ANS)--is associated with individual differences in symbolic math performance. The mechanism supporting this relationship, however, remains unknown. Here, we test whether the ANS contributes to how well adult observers judge the…