The hammer-and-nail phenomenon highlights human tendency to approach a problem using a tool with which one is familiar instead of analyzing the problem. Pedagogical suggestions are offered to help students minimize their mathematical impulsivity, cultivate an analytic disposition, and develop conceptual understanding.

Reflective subjects generated characteristically different and more efficient hypothesis-testing strategies than impulsive subjects. (Author)

In terms of Kagan's theory of the problem-solving process, this study explores the relationship between reflection-impulsivity, hypothesis generation and testing, and evaluation of the quality of one's own solutions among children approximately 8 to 12 years old. (JMB)

The study examines the role of conceptual tempo in creativity and problem solving. It was hypothesized that reflective children would do well on tasks involving evaluation components, while impulsive children would do well on typical creativity tasks. Results indicated no significant differences among the conceptual tempo groups. (Author)

It may be concluded that reflective and fast-accurate Ss differ from impulsive Ss of the same grade in the strategies used to solve problems. These strategy differences may or may not lead to more efficient performance, depending on the structure of the task, but they are indicative of different levels of cognitive development. (Author)

Thirty impulsive and 30 reflective EMR (educable mentally retarded) Black students (9-12 years old) were administered conjunctive concept attainment tasks with or without a memory aid. Repeated measures analyses of variance were used to examine the effects of the independent variables (cognitive tempo, presence or absence of a memory aid, and…

The article examines the reflective versus the impulsive cognitive styles and the implications of these styles for special education teachers. (PHR)

Metacognitive behaviors of subjects having high (n=2) and low (n=2) levels of mathematical experience were compared across four cognitive processes in mathematical problem solving: orientation, organization, execution, and verification. High-experience subjects engaged in self-regulation and spent more time on orientation and organization. (36…

This report presents research concerned with two information-processing constructs, "cognitive strategies" and "cognitive styles." Study one analyzes thinking-aloud protocols obtained from a female undergraduate doing anagram problems. Several major strategies are described, along with basic "Operators" subject used to construct and modify…

This study of problem solving and conceptual tempo had two objectives: (1) to begin to clarify the underlying deficiencies which contribute to the less efficient information processing of impulsive children (as compared with reflective children) during problem solving; and (2) to demonstrate the utility of using a task analysis as a…

Difficulties facing learning disabled (LD) students in problem solving are reviewed and an approach is proposed to help them make better use of the learning strategies available to them. A cognitive learning style approach to LD students is introduced, followed by an analysis of problem solving and the stages of information processing (attention,…

An exploratory study was undertaken to provide a means of quantifying some of the components of the problem solving process. The focus was on actual problem solving behaviors and strategies as they occurred in relation to different cognitive tasks and subject characteristics. Cognitive tasks included items from Wechsler and Binet intelligence…

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between a fourth-grade child's impulsive-reflective response style and two aspects of his problem-solving ability--the ability to select the proper arithmetic operation in a verbal arithmetic problem and the ability to estimate. The entire fourth-grade enrollment of three schools took the…

Investigated the hypothesis that impulsive children differ from reflective children in their preferred strategy of information processing, based on extent of stimulus analysis. The experiments employed third, fourth and sixth graders and a variety of tasks including matching, grouping, recall, and concept attainment. (MS)

Two Masters' theses, by Andrea Weiss and Melinda Welles, pursuing related questions were synthesized into a final report, "Field Independence-Dependence, Reflection-Impulsivity, and Problem-Solving Styles of Preschool Children," of which this interim report is a summary. The major purposes of both investigations were to determine: (1)…