This report discusses some of the activities of the Iowa Problem-Solving Project (IPSP). The document has three main sections: (1) Materials Development, where IPSP teaching materials and test development are discussed; (2) Summative Evaluation of Materials, presenting the procedures, results, and findings of the 1978-79 evaluations; and (3)…

An exploration of writing anxiety suggests that it is a normal form of behavior rather than a pathology, but that it varies in degrees of its dysfunctionality. Excerpts from the log books of college students in a writing anxiety workshop illustrate four broad categories of writing anxiety: procrastination, feeling emotionally distressed, thinking…

An overview of a variety of interesting teaching techniques is given to assist school personnel in strengthening their overall mathematics programs in the first eight grades. The problem-solving approaches recommended are so designed that they should be useful in every subject. The materials could also be used as a basis for teacher in-service…

This paper describing a newly created instructional approach developed at Oregon State University focuses on discussions of the process, a guided design decision-making strategy used by a team of instructors to design and develop the product, i.e., the feedback lecture approach, which is examined both in its developmental stage and in its measured…

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO TEST THE EFFECTS OF SPECIFIED CONDITIONS OF TELEVISION PRESENTATION AND OF CLASSROOM ACTIVITY UPON THE ACQUISITION OF MEANINGFUL CONCEPTS AND GENERALIZATIONS OF CERTAIN NATURAL SCIENCE PHENOMENA. THE SUBJECTS CONSISTED OF 36 FIFTH-GRADE CLASSES (APPROXIMATELY 1,000 CHILDREN) SELECTED FROM 90 CLASSES WHICH HAD…

A mathematics unit for sixth-grade classes was developed in which each of eight activities contains a challenge conveyed in the form of a story. Each activity requires students to manipulate concrete materials such as ceramic tiles, marked string, wooden cubes, and square paper. The mathematical content consists of concepts such as area,…

This report is concerned with the observation that many teenagers and adults are unable to apply arithmetic even when they know how to perform the operations. It is speculated that this is probably due to not having been taught when to use the fundamental operations. Examples of types of "real" problems which require the various…

Although conventional approaches to teaching psychology are probably effective to some degree, it is possible that psychology should be a "hands on" science, i.e., students of psychology should learn to apply the concepts and principles of the theoretical regions of psychology and to solve open-ended problems through the application of…

This study examined the effects of number of illustrative examples and number of practice problems given on seventh graders' achievement in a unit on probability. Four treatment groups were used, one for each combination of two levels of number of examples and two levels of number of practice problems. Prior to treatment students were pretested on…

This paper is divided into three parts. Part I connects the reality of the classroom with the idealism which arises from some of the problem solving literature. It is argued that a broader concept of problem solving is needed to provide a perspective for bridging the gap between the conceptions of problem solving in the literature and typical…

The purpose of this study was the construction of a theoretical model for analyzing mathematical problem solving. A list of general problem-solving abilities was generated through a literature search. This list was narrowed to eight basic abilities pertinent to mathematics problem solving. Each of these was operationally defined and exemplified in…

This study investigates one way humans cope with change--problem-solving. It concentrates on the human abilities important to efficient problem-solving and the processes involved in problem-solving. The objectives of this study were: (1) to develop three group administration tasks that measure problem-solving processes; (2) to evaluate the…

Six experiments were conducted to determine whether idea checklists increased idea quantity and quality. College students were allowed 10 or 20 minutes or unlimited time to find ideas for product improvement problems. Results indicated that the only checklist which significantly stimulated productivity was composed of just seven general categories…

A description of some techniques for developing children's creative thinking is presented. The principal technique used was to have children keep a journal of new ideas for five days a week. Thoughts to be written down included thinking about physical phenomena, children's thoughts about interpersonal relationships and themselves, children's…

The author examines the effectiveness of the Inquiry Strategy method which he hypothesizes to be useful in developing an analytical cognitive style. Ninety-two subjects from four, large urban high schools were involved. Forty-two were experimental, having received 2-3 years of Inquiry Strategy exposure in their late elementary or early junior high…