Explores the multiple challenges faced by King's College (Pennsylvania) when it decided to renovate its life sciences building and how they were successfully met. Photos are included. (GR)

Development of knowledge occurs through participation in social practices throughout life. Knowledge is constructed through engagement in problem solving; knowledge has conceptual, procedural, and dispositional dimensions; and the nature of the problem and different social practices influence the type of knowledge that is constructed. (SK)

Reviews cognitive science models of learning and transfer, especially representations, structures standing for something else. Presents examples of how representations support or hinder problem solving and communication. Discuses paradoxes involved in attempting to teach critical thinking. (Contains 33 references.) (SK)

Sometimes, if you do not begin at the end, you end at the beginning. This problem-solving phenomenon, in the realm of computer science (CS), is the subject of this paper. Beginning at the end yields a "working backwards" approach, opposite to that of "working forwards." One might expect 3rd year CS students to be aware of and effectively utilize…

Mystery and Adventure travel the same path. Within every mystery is an adventure, be it a struggle for survival, network of suspense, or matching of wits. A mystery is a secret jigsaw puzzle. Its popularity lies in the author's skillful engagement of the reader in putting together the pieces by using such elements as clues, foreshadowing, and…

A science fiction problem was placed before the students, they had to plan a profitable trip for Galactic spaceship tour and for which group of five students was made to solve the problem, which would encourage cooperative efforts, and different people in the group could work on different aspects. An important part of this problem is that students…

Constant feature is the calculator's feature to add subtract, multiply or divide the same number more than once without entering it each time. Application of the power of the constant feature to consumer mathematics, probability and iterative processes with problem solving implications are discussed.

The generalization of the solitaire checker puzzle and the attractive patterns that emerge during the process of solving the puzzle, as well in analyzing the minimal solutions of various cases are discussed. Both linear and quadratic patterns are intrinsically linked to this game and the shift from one to the other involves only a slight change…

A study is conducted to prove Kaprekar's conjecture with the help of mathematical concepts such as iteration, fixed points, limit cycles, equivalence cases and basic number theory. The experimental approaches, the different ways in which they reduced the problem to a simpler form and the use of tables and graphs to visualize the problem are…

In this article, the author discusses one of George Polya's geometrical problems. The author offers Polya's solution to the problem, given in the book, "How to Solve It." The reason for its relevance today and alternative solutions to the problem together with an extension are discussed. (Contains 10 figures.)

In the classroom, it is often challenging to find new ways to approach and present complex material. This is particularly true in design education, where innovation is highly valued and often required. A student developing a design for a new product has to successfully resolve multiple variables simultaneously while refining his/her own…

This article analyses mathematical modelling from several different perspectives and contrasts modelling with problem solving. Then it describes the ways in which modelling, applications, and problem solving are approached in several Latin American countries. It further describes workshops for secondary schools and for university teachers in which…

It is known that school-aged children have a strong tendency to solve mathematical word problems by mechanically calculating numbers even if their calculational answers seem unrealistic. The present study found that undergraduate students also demonstrate this tendency, but many of them could justify their ''unrealistic'' responses with sensible…

General intelligence (g) poses a problem for evolutionary psychology's modular view of the human brain. The author advances a new evolutionary psychological theory of the evolution of general intelligence and argues that general intelligence evolved as a domain-specific adaptation for the originally limited sphere of evolutionary novelty in the…

Heppner, Witty and Dixon have presented the development and theoretical base of the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI). They link it to numerous validity and reliability studies, with findings in predicted directions. This article expresses concerns about its use as a target in counseling and its applicability to individuals of the nonmajority…