Cooperative problem solving (CPS) is an essential ability in people's daily life. When individuals with different problem-solvers' characteristics (orientation and style) are assigned to different ...group sizes to solve social tasks, what are the differences in the performance of CPS ability? Based on this, through online experimental tasks, the present study examined the effect of problem-solving orientation and style on CPS ability in online social tasks. Meanwhile, it explored the role of group sizes as an environmental variable. The results showed that the more positive the problem-solving orientation, the better the performance of individual CPS ability. In addition, the more rational the problem-solving styles and the larger the group sizes, the higher the scores of participants' CPS ability. This study provides a new theoretical perspective for the complex relationship between the characteristics of problem solvers and CPS ability, and also provides empirical support for the cultivation of the CPS ability of adolescents.
Abstract
The paper presents a seminar for future physics teachers focused on problem solving and creativity in problem solving. In this seminar, students are encouraged to find effective strategies ...for various problems on their own, to use multiple representations, and to be aware of barriers as well as possible clues to solving problems. Students and their teachers reflect together on the goal of each activity or problem, and look for ways to bring them into the regular classroom. The seminar is aimed not only at developing students’ problem-solving competencies, but more importantly to draw them towards thinking like a future teacher.
Multiple theories of problem‐solving hypothesize that there are distinct qualitative phases exhibited during effective problem‐solving. However, limited research has attempted to identify when ...transitions between phases occur. We integrate theory on collaborative problem‐solving (CPS) with dynamical systems theory suggesting that when a system is undergoing a phase transition it should exhibit a peak in entropy and that entropy levels should also relate to team performance. Communications from 40 teams that collaborated on a complex problem were coded for occurrence of problem‐solving processes. We applied a sliding window entropy technique to each team's communications and specified criteria for (a) identifying data points that qualify as peaks and (b) determining which peaks were robust. We used multilevel modeling, and provide a qualitative example, to evaluate whether phases exhibit distinct distributions of communication processes. We also tested whether there was a relationship between entropy values at transition points and CPS performance. We found that a proportion of entropy peaks was robust and that the relative occurrence of communication codes varied significantly across phases. Peaks in entropy thus corresponded to qualitative shifts in teams’ CPS communications, providing empirical evidence that teams exhibit phase transitions during CPS. Also, lower average levels of entropy at the phase transition points predicted better CPS performance. We specify future directions to improve understanding of phase transitions during CPS, and collaborative cognition, more broadly.
This article presents two studies that examine whether leader supportive behaviors facilitate knowledge sharing and employee creative problem‐solving capacity, thereby enhancing creative performance. ...The findings from both studies indicate that leader supportive behaviors are directly and indirectly related, through both internal and external knowledge sharing, to employee creative problem‐solving capacity. In addition, creative problem solving was related to the two dimensions of creative performance—fluency and originality. However, a test of the mediation model indicated that creative problem solving only mediated the relationship between internal knowledge sharing creative performance and originality. These findings highlight the complex process by which leaders facilitate both internal and external knowledge sharing and employee creative problem‐solving capacity, thereby improving employee creative performance.
Previous research has demonstrated that an episodic specificity induction-brief training in recollecting details of a recent experience-enhances performance on various subsequent tasks thought to ...draw upon episodic memory processes. Existing work has also shown that mental simulation can be beneficial for emotion regulation and coping with stressors. Here we focus on understanding how episodic detail can affect problem solving, reappraisal, and psychological well-being regarding worrisome future events. In Experiment 1, an episodic specificity induction significantly improved participants' performance on a subsequent means-end problem solving task (i.e., more relevant steps) and an episodic reappraisal task (i.e., more episodic details) involving personally worrisome future events compared with a control induction not focused on episodic specificity. Imagining constructive behaviors with increased episodic detail via the specificity induction was also related to significantly larger decreases in anxiety, perceived likelihood of a bad outcome, and perceived difficulty to cope with a bad outcome, as well as larger increases in perceived likelihood of a good outcome and indicated use of active coping behaviors compared with the control. In Experiment 2, we extended these findings using a more stringent control induction, and found preliminary evidence that the specificity induction was related to an increase in positive affect and decrease in negative affect compared with the control. Our findings support the idea that episodic memory processes are involved in means-end problem solving and episodic reappraisal, and that increasing the episodic specificity of imagining constructive behaviors regarding worrisome events may be related to improved psychological well-being.
Co-thought gestures are hand movements produced in silent, noncommunicative, problem-solving situations. In the study, we investigated whether and how such gestures enhance performance in spatial ...visualization tasks such as a mental rotation task and a paper folding task. We found that participants gestured more often when they had difficulties solving mental rotation problems (Experiment 1). The gesture-encouraged group solved more mental rotation problems correctly than did the gesture-allowed and gesture-prohibited groups (Experiment 2). Gestures produced by the gesture-encouraged group enhanced performance in the very trials in which they were produced (Experiments 2 & 3). Furthermore, gesture frequency decreased as the participants in the gesture-encouraged group solved more problems (Experiments 2 & 3). In addition, the advantage of the gesture-encouraged group persisted into subsequent spatial visualization problems in which gesturing was prohibited: another mental rotation block (Experiment 2) and a newly introduced paper folding task (Experiment 3). The results indicate that when people have difficulty in solving spatial visualization problems, they spontaneously produce gestures to help them, and gestures can indeed improve performance. As they solve more problems, the spatial computation supported by gestures becomes internalized, and the gesture frequency decreases. The benefit of gestures persists even in subsequent spatial visualization problems in which gesture is prohibited. Moreover, the beneficial effect of gesturing can be generalized to a different spatial visualization task when two tasks require similar spatial transformation processes. We concluded that gestures enhance performance on spatial visualization tasks by improving the internal computation of spatial transformations.
This study investigated Grade 10 Namibian learners' problem-solving skills in algebraic word problems. A sample of 351 Grade 10 learners from ten secondary schools in the Ohangwena Region in Namibia ...participated in this study. The study followed a qualitative approach and adopted Polya's Problem-Solving Model as the framework. The data were collected using the Algebra Word Problem-solving Test and Interview. The findings showed that the learners needed better problem-solving skills in algebraic word problems. Only 6% and 7% of the learners showed an ability to understand the problems and devise a plan, respectively, while only 5% could carry out the plans. Based on the findings, it is recommended that teachers introduce learners to Polya's steps of problem-solving and incorporate word problems into mathematics teaching.
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