Social problem-solving skills are the individual's way for better social adaptation. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the characteristics of Palestinian adolescents' social problem-solving (Positive orientation, negative orientation, rational style, impulsive style, and avoidance style) in connection to some demographic variables (i.e.…

Ninety-seven children aged 4-11 (49 males, 48 females, mostly White) were given the opportunity to improve their problem-solving performance by devising and implementing a novel cognitive offloading strategy. Across two phases, they searched for hidden rewards using maps that were either aligned or misaligned with the search space. In the second…

The ability to solve complex problems successfully represents a key competence for students' educational success and beyond. While strategy application and metastrategic knowledge constitute two underlying components that drive successful complex problem solving (CPS), little is known about how these two facets develop individually and jointly in…

Quality learning and high student achievement are primary goals of K-12 public school education. Superintendent-School Board teams can have a positive impact on both. Collaboration is critical to these teams' effectiveness and efficiency. Research has suggested conflict can have a negative impact on collaboration and may be related to the…

The purpose of this study was to determine if selected factors influenced the ability of students in school-based agricultural education programs to generate a correct hypothesis when troubleshooting small gasoline engines. Variables of interest included students' cognitive style, age, GPA, and content knowledge in small gasoline engines. Kirton's…

Dual-process theories have been proposed to explain normative and heuristic responses to reasoning and decision-making problems. Standard unitary and dual-process theories predict that normative responses should increase with age. However, research has focused recently on exceptions to this standard pattern, including developmental increases in…

The present study examined the potential relationship between 1st and 5th year secondary school pre-service mathematics teachers' skills in understanding, method, modelling, verification, and extension dimensions of problem solving and their learning style characteristics. The data consisted of the skills pre-service teachers demonstrated in the…

Relates the problem-solving behavior of second, fourth, and sixth graders to conceptual tempo. Correlations with indices of strategic and efficient performance on a pattern-matching task confirmed that reflectives are more strategic than impulsives. A task-analysis identified the sources of inefficiency for each child and related these sources to…

Investigated the ability of kindergarten, first-grade and third-grade boys and girls to use a mnemonic strategy in a spatial task. (Author/DB)

Tested the hypothesis that increased task difficulty elicits more efficient problem-solving strategies from older adults, using "Twenty Questions" tasks with either 64 or 10,000 possible solutions. Although younger adults were more efficient, there was not evidence that task difficulty affected problem-solving for either age group. (Author/JAC)

Deductive reasoning problems were presented to 72 public elementary school students, half of whom were identified as gifted (mean age of 9.6 years) and half of whom were regular education students (mean age of 9.3 years). They were used to test an hypothesis that gifted children who score significantly higher than average on standardized…

Tested the hypothesis that increasing problem complexity elicits strategies of greater efficiency from older adults. Responses of older and younger adults were compared in a version of "Twenty Questions." No evidence was found that older adults seek more efficient strategies. Both groups maintained the same strategies. (Author/JAC)

The effectiveness of a procedure for identifying certain cognitive processes used during problem solving is explored. The procedure was used to: categorize types of conceptual thinking problem solvers employ; study the use of trial-and-error behavior; and investigate abilities to coordinate multiple bits of information. (Author/GK)

Geometric matrix problems were presented to 11- and 14-year-olds and adults to investigate latency to solution as a function of number of elements (1-3) and of transformations (0-2) that had to be considered for correct solution. At all ages latencies increased as the number of elements and number of transformations increased. (Author/DB)

A study examined the age-related differences in impersonal (objective) and personal (subjective) styles of thinking and the influences these differences have on traditional cognitive measures. Data were obtained from two 2-hour interviews with 333 participants in their homes, at senior centers, or on a university campus. All participants were…