Bracketing is defined as a procedure whereby individual decisionmaking team members sharpen their perceptions of organizational need prior to administrative action. Like the Delphi technique, the procedure eliminates major detriments of group activity planning and includes sequential interrogations and feedback procedures. Unlike the Delphi…

A national sample survey of innovation processes reported by superintendents in 353 school districts reveals four distinct patterns of belief regarding change. These four patterns are identified as "participative problem solving,""RD&D,""strategic manipulation," and "open advocacy-human revolution." Three of the four correspond closely to…

State-space representation of a problem, borrowed from mechanical problem-solving theory, is used to describe a problem's invariant structure formally. Paths within the state-space represent subjects' behaviors, as conventionally distinguished from their "protocals" or "strategies". Its goal is thus to develop the relationship…

Part of the Omaha police in-service training program was devoted to innovative approaches to solving police department problems and improving community relations. The sessions were an attempt to use the brainstorming technique to elicit new solutions to everyday problems faced by the rank-and-file members of the police department. The report…

This study was planned to examine differences in the ability to stop and think, and knowledge of comparative concepts, among children who succeeded or failed in solving verbally presented class inclusion problems. Thirty third-grade boys were classified as non-Inclusion subjects, and 30 others as Inclusion subjects. The children were classified as…

At this time, those responsible for the retarded are asked to be accountable for new dollars spent. In most cases, tools and techniques that can be used to develop accountability models have not been integrated into systems that serve the retarded. This presentation deals with philosophies, tools, and techniques that can be used to improve present…

The purpose of this experiment was to provide further information on how an individual's strategy and his performance are affected by increasing the amount of relevant or irrelevant information he receives. The subjects were sixty volunteers from an undergraduate course in educational psychology who were randomly assigned to one of six treatment…

This paper uses two communication models, Goffman's theatrical model and Harris' psychological model, to illustrate the communication process as it occurs in curriculum projects and to analyze the processes by which people influence each other--decision making and nondecision making. It is suggested that viewing such projects from diverse…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a greater increase in problem-solving ability of capable but poorly prepared college freshmen in a modern mathematics program occurs when students are taught to use discovery techniques. Two experimental and two control groups were formed from 70 college freshmen; two instructors were each…

Grievance arbitration is utilized on a nearly universal basis, but the process is malfunctioning in several ways. The study was based on a review of the literature, in field interviews, and in-depth correspondence with knowledgeable management and union practitioners; findings are limited to the arbitration step in contract administration. Twenty…

This study was designed to investigate the relationships among mathematical creativity, numerical aptitude and mathematical achievement. Mathematical creativity was operationally defined as the ability to give numerous, different and applicable responses when presented with a mathematical situation in written, graphic or chart form; it was tested…

The nine problems used in the study of problem-solving processes are provided, along with the corresponding questions and their answers. Data on the values corresponding to each group, used in scoring, are also attached. (For related document, see TM 003 093.) (KM)

An effective generative computer-assisted instructional system designed to teach basic machine language computer programing is now available. The system--known as Machine Language Teacher (MALT)--is implemented on an IBM 360 with numerous 2741 remote terminals giving student access. It teaches the machine language of the Simulated Educational…

An aspect of problem solving ability was identified by the investigator as "mathelation" and was defined to be the ability to translate and to fit idealized real-world problem situations into appropriate mathematical expressions or models. The study involved three phases: (1) the construction and validation of an instrument to measure mathelation;…

It was hypothesized that certain programmed productive thinking materials would increase both the divergent and convergent thinking abilities being measured and that there would be a direct relationship between any change in one of these abilities and any change in the other. Six classes of 6th-grade suburban students with I.Q.'s ranging from 79…