For the past five years, our students have been passing less and less time preparing for lectures and exams. To encourage them to do more exercises, a pedagogical activity was offered outside the classroom. With the goal of making students more active during the problem-solving process, an innovative online environment, Sphinx, was developed.…

Attaining the insight needed to solve the Mutilated Checkerboard problem, which requires discovery of an effective problem representation (EPR), is described. Performance on insight problems can be predicted from the availability of generators and constraints in the search for an EPR. Data for 23 undergraduates were analyzed. (TJH)

Compared use of problems and the conventional case method as methods of instruction at the Utrecht University Law School (Netherlands). The problem method required students to find, frame, and analyze issues and provided training seminars in legal problem-solving skills. Students using problems spent more time on learning activities and performed…

This study manipulated the timing and control of error feedback in problem solving and examined their effects on skill acquisition by 40 undergraduate students learning to program in the computer language Lisp under four error feedback conditions. These four conditions included two types of symbol-by-symbol feedback that vary in content, a…

This study sought to determine whether or not student teachers who were trained and required to use a data-based problem-solving approach in their practicum classrooms would obtain higher levels of pupil achievement in reading and mathematics than student teachers who did not receive the training. Student teachers (N=23) were randomly assigned to…

Discusses problem solving, problem-based learning, and collaborative learning, and describes a university study that investigated the effects of individual Web-based learning versus computer-mediated collaborative Web-based learning and ability grouping on learner performance in solving ill-defined problems. Considers time on task, participant…

Describes a study conducted at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry that compared the effectiveness and efficiency of adaptive instruction with nonadaptive instruction using interactive videodisc patient simulations. The Dental Diagnosis and Treatment (DDx&Tx) System is explained, and problem-solving skills and study time are discussed.…

This issue of "Investigations in Mathematics Education" contains: (1) a review of E. Fischbein's book "The Intuitive Sources of Probabilistic Thinking in Children;" (2) nine abstracts of research studies in mathematics education; (3) a list (by EJ number) of mathematics education research studies reported in the January to…