Designing computer software for problem-solving instruction

The purpose of this article is to identify factors that might influence the effectiveness of computer software designed to teach problem solving. Problem solving is defined and the research literature related to the acquisition of problem-solving abilities and the capabilities of computers for delivering problem-solving instruction are reviewed. The factors critical to the acquisition of problem-solving abilities and the attributes of computers that make them potential tools in problem-solving instruction are identified. These items are synthesized into a list of factors that are expected to influence the effectiveness of computer software designed to teach problem solving.     

Individual differences in learning entrepreneurship and their implications for web-based instruction in e-business and e-commerce

This paper reports on outcomes from a White Rose Centre for Enterprise funded project Managing Innovation in the Digital Economy. This project aims to incorporate learning for enterprise into undergraduate and postgraduate curricula in information management and information systems. The paper presents results from a survey distributed to postgraduate information management and information systems students following completion of a module in E‐Business and E‐Commerce delivered by the Department of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield. The findings suggest that differences in levels of prior knowledge of business studies and in cultural background can impact on students’ acquisition of domain knowledge and intellectual and information research skills during collaborative development of a business plan. Implications of the results for web‐based instruction are addressed, by identifying teaching and learning strategies that support differential treatment of learners in terms of content and process. It is concluded that empirical investigation of individual differences within a student body can inform more effective methods for information systems and information management graduates to learn about and for entrepreneurship.     

Individual differences in undergraduate essay-writing strategies: A longitudinal study

Analysis of questionnaire responses describing thewriting processes associated with a total of 715essays (term papers) produced by undergraduatepsychology students identified four distinct patternsof writing behaviour: a minimal-drafting strategywhich typically involved the production of one or atmost two drafts; an outline-and-develop strategy whichentailed content development both prior to and duringdrafting; a detailed-planning strategy which involvedthe use of content-development methods (mindmapping,brainstorming or rough drafting) in addition tooutlining, and a ``think-then-do' strategy which,unlike the other three strategies, did not involve theproduction of a written outline. The minimal-draftingand outline-and-develop strategies appeared to producethe poorest results, with the latter being more timeconsuming. The detailed-planning and ``think-then-do'strategies both appeared to result in better qualityessays, although differences were small. We analysedthe writing strategies for a subset of these essaysproduced by a cohort of 48 students followed throughthe three years of their degree course. We found someevidence of within-student consistency in strategy usewith on average two out of every three of a student'sessays being written using the same type of strategy.There was no evidence of systematic change in writingstrategy from year to year.     

Individual differences in cognitive synthesis: An M-capacity analysis

Individual differences in children's propensity to demonstrate cognitive synthesis were evaluated using an artificial reading task. Six-year-olds were asked to demonstrate the meaning of various sentences constructed of logographs, or whole-word symbols, which were arranged in either a meaningful (i.e., grammatical) or scrambled (i.e., ungrammatical) order. Some children demonstrated the sentences in a synthesized mode (expressing a single idea unit), while others used a nonsynthesized mode (expressing the meanings of individual logographs). Overall, synthesizers had a larger attentional reserve, or M-capacity, than nonsynthesizers. The two groups did not differ significantly in age, intellectual level, or reading achievement. As predicted by their larger M-capacity, synthesizers demonstrated from memory significantly more items from meaningful sentences than nonsynthesizers. However, when synthesizers attempted to integrate the scrambled sentences, the excessive operative schemes needed to reorganize the items reduced their recall performance to the level of nonsynthesizers.     

Gender-related effects of contemporary math instruction for low performers on problem-solving behavior

Effects of guided (GI) and direct instruction (DI) in solving subtraction problems for mathematically low performers in regular schools were compared. In the GI condition, self-development of solution procedures was encouraged whereas in the DI condition one prescribed strategy was to be used. Forty children (M_age = 9.3 years) were trained during 34 lessons. Only girls performed better and showed higher comfort in the GI than in the DI condition. Results are explained in terms of girls' increased motivation in the GI condition, which could be explained by assuming that a more constructivist setting is more conducive to girls' learning.     

Individual differences in English Learning Strategies

Some learners’ personal factors, such as gender, major, motivation and language proficiency, influence the use of language learn- ing strategies. This paper reports the results of a survey study which investigates the individual differences and the employment of English learning strategies, examines the association between enjoyment and strategy use, motivation and strategy use, gender and strategy use, major and strategy use, English proficiency and strategy use.     

Individual differences and institutional constraints

This article develops a multilevel examination of the structural changes in schooling and employment counselling that are necessitated by rapidly evolving conditions in the job markets of postindustrial as well as developing economies. International and national macro-structures appear increasingly fluid in the altered political and commercial environments of the 1990s. These alterations place wrenching constraints on national and regional institutions as well as the individuals who are seeking a job niche that is not only personally satisfying and rewarding but stable. Distinct regional and provincial structures need to be understood idiographically and modified as global changes amplify at all levels. At the school and jobseeking end of this continuum are the legions of confused individuals of widely varying aptitudes, competencies, and interests who avail themselves of government programs of an educational, counselling, and retraining character. Major developmental and career psychology issues that flow from these conditions and structural changes are addressed. Issues seen to be of major importance that will be examined are (among others): correspondence between the demand characteristics of schools and regional job markets; discrepancies between the givens of physical anthropology and institutional demands on both children and adults, poorness of fit between individuals and the institutions in which they work and are trained, and the threeat of a cultural entropy that banalizes institutions and standardizes all dimensions of life.     

A computer-managed training in problem-solving

This article presents the design of a large scale computer-managed training in problem-solving on applied mathematics and basic physics run at the University of Leuven for 340 first year medical students. The training is based on a general expert strategy. Students work discontinuously on-line, i.e., they are corrected, helped and evaluated at a terminal but the calculation is done at separate tables. Some tentative results are given.     

Individual differences in RAN and reading: a response timing analysis

Thirty 8–11‐year‐old children were administered tests of rapid naming (RAN letters and digits) and reading‐related skills. Consistent with the hypothesis that RAN predicts reading because it assesses the ability to establish arbitrary mappings between visual symbols and verbal labels, RAN accounted for independent variance in exception word reading when phonological skills were controlled. Response timing analysis of different components of RAN digits and letters revealed that neither average item duration nor average pause duration were unique predictors of reading skill. However, the number of pauses on digit naming predicted unique variance in exception word reading. Moreover, better readers paused more strategically than poorer readers (e.g. more often at the ends of lines). We suggest that rapid automatised naming may in part reflect differences in strategic control that are a result of differences in reading practice and experience.     

The effects of verbal scaffolding instruction on young children's private speech and problem-solving capabilities

This investigation examined the efficacy of a verbal scaffolding instructional program designed to teach young children how to use private speech while working on school tasks and problems. Two different contexts for solving problems were used; common school tasks and analogical reasoning problems. Thirty-four 5-year olds who attended public school kindergartens were assigned to either the comparison group or the treatment group. Comparison group subjects were presented with a series of 8 lessons which focused on a cognitive strategy to be used in the solutions of geometric analogy problems. Treatment group subjects were presented with a series of 8 lessons which employed cognitive self-instruction in a verbal scaffolding format. After initial instruction using self-verbalizations, treatment group subjects were shown how to apply the cognitive self-instruction to routine school tasks and geometric analogy problems. The data analysis revealed that there was an effect on the treatment group's use of 3 of the 4 levels of private speech. When the two groups were compared, the treatment group used significantly less task irrelevant private speech and significantly more task relevant private speech. There were no significant differences between the two groups on the post-assessment of geometric analogy reasoning. Additionally, when the two groups were compared there were positive effects of the instructional program on the treatment group's classroom behavior (near transfer) and locus of control scores (far transfer). The results of this study provide support for the use of cognitive self-instruction to improve young children's problem-solving private speech in the context of a public school classroom.Portions of this paper were presented at the 2nd Annual European Congress of Psychology, Budapest Hungary, July 1991 by the first author.This paper was presented at the 1993 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta, GA.     

Process-oriented instruction: A discussion

Research on process-oriented instruction has been thriving in Europe for a number of years. This Special Issue provides the opportunity to bring together a number of research studies investigating the educational potential of this form of instruction in a wide range of domains of instruction (reading comprehension, physics, computer programming and psychology) and educational settings (secondary school and university). This final paper reflects on the common conceptual threads that link these diverse studies together¹. A number of conceptual, methodological and practical issues emerging out of the research are reviewed.     

Individual differences in local and global metacognitive judgments

Metacognition and Learning - Extensive research has been conducted to understand how accurately students monitor their studying and performance via metacognitive judgments. Moreover, the bases of...