Exploring problem conceptualization and performance in STEM problem solving contexts

Problem solving abilities are critical components of contemporary Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. Research in the area of problem solving has uncovered much about the representation, processes and heuristic approaches to problem solving. However, critics claim this overemphasis on the process of solving problems has led to a dearth in understanding of the earlier stages such as problem conceptualization. This paper aims to address some of these concerns by exploring the area of problem conceptualization and the underlying cognitive mechanisms that may play a supporting role in reasoning success. Participants (N?=?12) were prescribed a series of convergent problem-solving tasks representative of those used for developmental purposes in STEM education. During the problem-solving episodes, cognitive data were gathered by means of an electroencephalographic headset and used to investigate students’ cognitive approaches to conceptualizing the tasks. In addition, interpretive qualitative data in the form of post-task interviews and problem solutions were collected and analyzed. Overall findings indicated a significant reliance on memory during the conceptualization of the convergent problem-solving tasks. In addition, visuospatial cognitive processes were found to support the conceptualization of convergent problem-solving tasks. Visuospatial cognitive processes facilitated students during the conceptualization of convergent problems by allowing access to differential semantic content in long-term memory.

     

Registered Reports in Child Development: Introduction to the Special Section

Registered Reports (RRs) are an emerging format for publishing empirical journal articles in which the decision to publish an article is based on sound conceptualization, methods, and planned analyses rather than the specific nature of the results. This article introduces the Special Section on Registered Reports in Child Development by describing what RRs are and why they are necessary, outlining the thought process that guided the Special Section, describing key thematic insights across the eight articles included in the collection, and providing recommendations for developmental researchers interested in publishing via the RR format. This article also serves as a formal announcement that RRs will be a standard publishing option at Child Development, effective immediately.     

Counselor Experience Related to Complexity of Case Conceptualization and Supervision Preference

The authors investigated the relationship among trainees' counseling experience, familiarity with specific client symptomatology, case conceptualization integrative complexity (i.e., the ability to differentiate and integrate knowledge related to specific client symptomatology), and preference for supervisor style. Data from 100 beginning practicum to intern‐level counselor trainees revealed that general trainee experience and familiarity with specific client symptomatology were related to trainee case conceptualization integrative complexity. However, contrary to developmental models of counselor supervision, neither trainee experience, familiarity with specific symptomatology, nor trainee case conceptualization integrative complexity significantly predicted preference for supervisor style.     

Pedagogy in Common: Democratic education in the global era

In the context of the increasingly transnational organization of society, culture, and communication, this article develops a conceptualization of the global common as a basic condition of interrelation and shared experience, and describes contemporary political efforts to fully democratize this condition. The article demonstrates the implications for curriculum and teaching of this project, describing in particular the importance of fundamentally challenging the interpellation of students as subjects of the nation, and the necessity for new and radically collaborative forms of political and pedagogical authority that can more powerfully realize the imaginative potential of educators and students alike as global democratic actors. In this effort, familiar progressive educational ideas (e.g. the importance of the continuity of the curriculum, and the meaning and purpose of experimentalism) are interrogated and rearticulated. The article concludes with a discussion of the unique ways in which education can contribute to constructing a democratic society in the global era, and how the central aspects of such a pedagogy in common can also suggest essential principles for the organization of social movements in this context.     

A Generalized Scoring Process to Measure Collaborative Problem Solving in Online Environments

Recent educational and psychological research has highlighted shifting workplace requirements and change required to equip the emerging workforce with skills for the 21st century. The emergence of these highlights the issues, and drives the importance, of new methods of assessment. This study addresses some of the issues by describing a scoring process for measuring collaborative problem solving (CPS) in online environments. The method presented, from conceptualization to implementation, centers on its generalizable application, presenting a systematic process of identifying, coding, and scoring behavior patterns in log stream data generated from assessments. Item Response Theory was used to investigate the psychometric properties of behavior patterns. The goal of this study was to present an approach that informs new measurement practices in relation to sociocognitive latent traits and their processes. The generalized scoring process provides an efficient approach to develop measures of social and cognitive skills in online environments.     

The conceptualization of cases of physical motion

The question addressed in the present article concerns the contextual character of students’ conceptions of cases of psysical motion. An interview investigation with students following the mechanical engineering line of study at Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden was carried out during the students’ first year of study, before and after their first course in Mechanics. In the interviews, the students were verbally presented with eight cases of physical motion, four before and four after the course. The analysis of the conceptualization of physical motion points clearly to the very restricted contextual character of the conceptions of the cases. In previous research, the tradition of describing thinking and knowledge in terms of cognitive structures, shemas, models and so on, is very dominant. In relation to our results, one problem with the focus on cognitive structures is the assumptions made about generality across case or instances. Also, the students’ starting-point for their reasoning about the cases is not in any conceptual framework but in the specific cases. The conceptualizations are related to the students’ previous experiences rather than to any clearly delimited and structured conceptual framework.     

College students solving chemistry problems: A theoretical model of expertise

A model of expertise in chemistry problem solving was tested on undergraduate science majors enrolled in a chemistry course. The model was based on Anderson's Adaptive Control of Thought‐Rational (ACT‐R) theory. The model shows how conceptualization, self‐efficacy, and strategy interact and contribute to the successful solution of quantitative, well‐defined chemistry problems in the areas of stoichiometry, thermochemistry, and properties of solutions. A statistical path analysis and students' explanations supported the model and indicated that the students' problem conceptualization and chemistry self‐efficacy influenced their strategy use, which, in turn, strongly influenced their problem‐solving success. The implication of these findings for future research and developing students' expertise in chemistry problem solving is that a strategy is advantageous when it is built on a foundation of conceptual knowledge and chemistry self‐efficacy. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 46: 1070–1089, 2009     

Counseling a Biracial Female College Student With an Eating Disorder: A Case Study Applying an Integrative Biopsychosocialcultural Perspective

This case study describes short‐term counseling with a young biracial woman experiencing an eating disorder. A biopsychosocialcultural conceptualization of the problem is described. The counseling approach is informed by feminist and multicultural theory and uses both interpersonal and cognitive behavior therapy.     

Exploring the Use of Computer Simulation to Evaluate the Implementation of Problem-Solving Consultation

The purpose of this study was to examine how school psychologists implemented the problem-solving consultation process within a computer-simulated school environment. Four school psychologists were recruited to complete three simulated consultation cases. The school environment was computer generated and all of the teachers and target students (clients) were computer generated. A qualitative case study design coupled with interviews was used in this study. Three themes emerged from the data analysis including (a) behavioral approach to problem conceptualization, (b) individualized approach to intervention design, and (c) minimal attention to plan evaluation. Implications for problem-solving consultation training as well as use of computer simulation are discussed.     

The Case Conceptualization Format: A Training Device for Practicum

A training device to facilitate counselor conceptualization of client psychological functioning is presented. Conceptualization is defined as the counselor's synthesis of the cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and interpersonal aspects of the client's intrapsyche dynamics. A specific case conceptualization format is presented, along with an explanation of each of its components. In addition, a step-by-step program for implementation of the training device within the practicum of a counselor education training program is presented.     

Towards a theory of mathematics homework as a social practice

This article presents a theoretical conceptualization of mathematics homework as a social practice. Rather than considering homework as a task or an artifact, this approach frames homework in terms of the social contexts in which students participate and how students participate in those contexts. This perspective has long been suggested by homework researchers but has not been developed as a framework for understanding homework. Drawing from Wenger’s (1998) social theory of learning and research grounded in sociocultural theory, this conceptualization makes central meaning making and identity development, and puts forth meaning and identity as lenses for understanding students’ participation in the practice of mathematics homework. To further develop this conceptualization of homework, I draw on data from an ethnographic study of the role and meaning of mathematics homework in the lives of middle school students. Case studies of two students are presented to demonstrate the relationships among the meaning of homework, students’ identities, and their participation in the practice of homework. One student’s experiences support him in identifying as a capable mathematics student who is bound for continued academic success through high school to college. Thus, he comes to take on mathematics homework as a means to learn and succeed. The other student’s experiences support him in building an identity that leads him to reject homework. This conceptualization of homework and the case study data have implications for the practice of homework and for theories of students’ motivational dispositions in the context of mathematics homework and learning in general.     

Using interactive management to facilitate a student-centred conceptualisation of critical thinking: a case study

Critical thinking (CT) is a metacognitive process, consisting of a number of sub-skills and dispositions, that, when used appropriately, increases the chances of producing a logical solution to a problem or a valid conclusion to an argument. CT has been identified as a fundamental learning objective of third-level education; however, students often report not being given the opportunity to adequately understand and cultivate CT skills. Though most CT interventions are designed based on academic or expert definitions of CT skills, students are rarely, if ever, asked to guide their instruction by describing their perspectives on what constitutes CT. The current case study investigated students’ conceptualisations of what constitutes good CT using a collective intelligence methodology, interactive management. Interactive management (IM) is a computer-assisted process that allows a group to build a structural model describing relations between elements in a system. Though decades of research on group decision-making in educational and social psychology highlight the many limitations associated with group problem solving (e.g. as a result of an over-reliance on heuristics, cognitive biases and ‘groupthink’), a fundamental skill for making decisions and solving problems is the ability to collectively visualise the structure of a shared problem, and use this knowledge to design solutions and strategies for collective action. Results of IM group work from the current case study revealed five core CT skills (clarity of expression, conversational skill, inference, evaluation, and explanation), five CT dispositions (detachment, listening, systematicity, recognising uncertainty, and self-questioning) and fourteen structural relationships among them. The ability to detach, listen and engage in conversation with others, were seen as fundamental drivers of all other competencies in the system. Results are discussed in light of research and theory on CT and best practice for CT instruction.     

Hearing Students: The Complexity of Understanding What they are Saying,Showing, and Doing

Teachers are expected today to assess student understanding as an integral part of instruction, using a combination of various assessment methods and tools, among which are observing students solve problems in class and listening to their mathematical discussions. The aim of our study is to explore what it might mean for a teacher to hear students and to interpret their talk and actions. Analysis of an interview with Ruth – an experienced elementary school teacher – after she observed two of her students solve a mathematics problem, suggests four types of her interpretation: describing, explaining, assessing and justifying. This analysis illustrates the complexity of the way Ruth hears her students, as is indicated even in the relatively simple case of describing. Using various sources of data we also analyze different characteristics of Ruth’s hearing for the describing and explaining types of interpretation and examine possible resources for her over-hearing, compatible-hearing, under-hearing, non-hearing and biased-hearing.     

The ISPI HPT model applied to a university television broadcast system upgrade

This is a case study describing the application of the traditional ISPI human performance technology (HPT) model at CHWK, a campus television channel broadcast from a southeastern American university cable system. CHWK's issues with delivery options, labor‐intense work flow, and continual staff training were identified as the performance problems. Computerization of the system, including the installation of new hardware and data processing methods, was recommended as the intervention to solve the performance problem.     

Matching teaching to learners: A review of a decade of research

Thirty-five studies relating to D. E. Hunt's notion of matching environments to learners were reviewed. The studies were grouped according to their outcome measures into affective, behavioral, and achievement outcomes. Empirical support for the matching principle was found for all three outcomes, but varied from strong support for affective and behavioral criteria to moderate support for achievement. The article discusses these differences, and advocates that future research studies give greater attention to the conceptualization and measurement of teaching environments. It concludes that there is empirical validation for the matching principle, and that matching is a meaningful way of describing the process of adapting instructional approaches to student differences.     

Metacognitive knowledge of effort, personality factors, and mood state: their relationships with effort-related metacognitive experiences

The present study aimed at identifying the effects of mood treatment, personality factors, and metacognitive knowledge of effort–i.e., conceptualization of effort and perceptions of effort regulation–on metacognitive experiences of students, particularly on their reported feeling of difficulty and estimate of effort. The sample comprised 474 students of 5th and 7th grade of both genders. The participants were tested in two phases. In the first phase, they were asked to respond to questionnaires measuring (a) metacognitive knowledge of effort, (b) maths self-concept, (c) goal orientations, and (d) a test of maths ability. In the second phase, participants were subjected to mood treatment–neutral, positive, and negative– and were asked to solve a mathematical problem. They also rated their prospective metacognitive experiences before solving the problem and the retrospective ones after solving it. Mood treatment interacted with gender in the case of performance but it had no effect on metacognitive experiences. A series of regression analyses showed that positive mood, personality factors, and feeling of difficulty predicted the prospective estimate of effort. Only feeling of difficulty and performance predicted the retrospective estimate of effort. No effect of metacognitive knowledge of effort on estimate of effort was found.     

Creative Projects: A Place in Counselor Education

During the past 15 years, a series of dramatic and important changes in the conceptualization of counseling theory and practice has occurred. However, concomitant changes in counselor education theory and practice have not kept pace. Blocher (1968) addressed himself to this problem in the following way:     

Metacognitive factors in scientific problem-solving strategies

The aim of this study on 42 seventh graders (ages 12–13) was to determine whether and to what extent students’ metacognitive level is linked to their conceptualization and performance in problem solving at school, especially science problems. This hypothesis is supported by a number of studies showing that metacognition is a factor in learning. Two indexes were devised for the study: an index of metaknowledge about classroom learning, and an index of metacognitive monitoring in relation to task difficulty on a non-academic problem. These two indexes were related to the students’ intelligence test scores and solving strategies on electricity problems. The results showed that (1) the metaknowledge level was more closely tied to crystallized intelligence (Gc), and (2) metacognitive monitoring was more closely associated with fluid intelligence (Gf). Moreover, both metacognitive indexes were strongly linked to scientific problem-solving strategies (correlations around .50).     

Making formative assessment discernable to pre‐service teachers of science

The purpose of this pragmatic action research study was to explore our re‐conceptualization efforts in preparing pre‐service teachers to guide the inquiry process with formative assessment and subsequently use the understandings to improve our teacher preparation program. The process was guided by two questions: to what extent did course re‐conceptualization efforts lead to a more informed understanding of formative assessment by pre‐service teachers and did strategies enacted in the re‐conceptualized methods course foster or hinder pre‐service teachers' understanding of formative assessment? Data from this study support the following findings: (1) a substantial pre‐ to post‐methods course difference was realized in the pre‐service teachers' understanding of formative assessment; (2) explicit and contextualized approaches to formative assessment in the methods course led to increased understandings by pre‐service teachers; (3) an implicit approach led to improvements in course structure but did not foster pre‐service teachers' understanding of the reflexive nature of formative assessment; and (4) a field‐based case study on elementary science teaching both hindered and fostered our efforts with formative assessment. This study yields implications for pre‐service teacher education on formative assessment. To foster pre‐service teachers' knowledge and skills, we suggest explicit instruction on formative assessment combined with case studies, field experiences, and ongoing reflection. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 402–421, 2010