ERIC Number: ED596582
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Jun
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Analysis of Problem-Solving Behavior in Open-Ended Scientific-Discovery Game Challenges
Bauer, Aaron; Flatten, Jeff; Zoran Popovic
International Educational Data Mining Society, Paper presented at the International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM) (10th, Wuhan, China, Jun 25-28, 2017)
Problem-solving skills in creative, open-ended domains are both important and little understood. These domains are generally ill-structured, have extremely large exploration spaces, and require high levels of specialized skill in order to produce quality solutions. We investigate problem-solving behavior in one such domain, the scientific-discovery game "Foldit". Our goal is to discover differentiating patterns and understand what distinguishes high and low levels of problem-solving skill. To address the challenges posed by the scale, complexity, and ill-structuredness of "Foldit" solver behavior data, we devise an iterative visualization-based methodology and use this methodology to design a concise, meaning-rich visualization of the problem-solving process in "Foldit". We use this visualization to identify key patterns in problem-solving approaches, and report how these patterns distinguish high-performing solvers in this domain. [For the full proceedings, see ED596512.]
Descriptors: Problem Solving, Science Instruction, Cooperative Learning, Visualization, Scientific Principles, Discovery Processes, Educational Games, Puzzles, Teaching Methods, Student Behavior
International Educational Data Mining Society. e-mail: admin@educationaldatamining.org; Web site: http://www.educationaldatamining.org
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (DHHS); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: 1UH2CA203780; 1629879
Author Affiliations: N/A