Most theories of instruction rely on a model of the learner's internal processing system. In this article, three general models of the internal processing system involved in learning to solve problems will be outlined, and will be related to both external instructional procedures and learning outcome variables. (Author/DEP)

This study focussed on how secondary school students construct and use mathematical models as conceptual tools when solving word problems. The participants were 511 secondary-school students who were in the final year of compulsory education (15-16 years old). Four levels of the development of constructing and using mathematical models were…

This article investigates the effect of the vitality of historical issues in collective memory on students' history learning processes and products. Forty 12th grade students of different ethnic background participated in two historical problem-solving learning tasks. The historical issues were found to differ in their vitality in collective…

In this study, the authors compared four multimedia learning arrangements differing in instructional approach on effectiveness and efficiency for learning: (a) hypermedia learning, (b) observational learning, (c) self-explanation-based learning, and (d) inquiry learning. The approaches all advocate learners' active attitude toward the learning…

This study discusses findings that replicate and extend the original work of Burns and Vollmeyer (2002), which showed that performance in problem-solving tasks was more accurate when people were engaged in a non-specific goal than in a specific goal. The main innovation here was to examine the goal specificity effect under both observation-based…

The article addresses obstructions to problem solving (such as an overemphasis on learning facts) and suggests six steps to overcome those obstacles: (1) recognizing that the problem exists, (2) understanding the problem, (3) analyzing the problem, (4) considering alternative solutions, (5) choosing the best solution, and (6) evaluating the…

Results indicate that training in semantic awareness increased problem-solving ability for both analytic and synthetic problems. (Author)

Although there is still routine in most jobs, knowledge work, in which workers combine and interpret information to find solutions for new problems, is becoming more prevalent. This implies a fundamental change in the relationship between working and learning. (Contains 16 references.) (Author/JOW)

With regard to transfer, is it better to provide pupils with ready-made representations or is it more effective to scaffold pupils' thinking in the process of generating their own representations with the help of peers and under the guidance of a teacher in a process of guided co-construction? The sample comprises 10 classes and 239 Grade 5…

The professional expertise of educational leaders has been defined through the lens of problem-solving processes. Problem-based learning has therefore become an increasingly popular instructional approach in principal preparatory programs. As such, this study represents an initial attempt to explore learning from success (i.e., success-based…

This paper introduces various visual models for the analysis and description of learning processes. The models analyse learning on two levels: the dynamic level (as a process over time) and the functional level. Two types of model for dynamic modelling are proposed: the session trace, which documents a specific learner in a particular learning…

This literature review concerns the relationships between imitation-modeling as a learning process and creative behaviors. If it can be demonstrated that creative (unusual, flexible) behaviors are increased upon seeing other creative behaviors modeled, this finding would contradict the simple matching to template interpretation for modeling…

Teachers and students alike have happily subjected themselves to a hanging-strings experiment, only to find themselves face-to-face with their own inability to break out of standard modes of approaching learning situations. Author used the strings problem as a theme in discussing the weaknesses of exclusively systematic education. (Editor/RK)

The purpose of this paper was to present specific instructional objectives and learning hierarchies, which are diagrams of the organization of the skills and prerequisite accomplishments involved in a more complex, general learning outcome, that were developed for a creative problem-solving course. (Author/RK)

A proposal for curriculum reform to increase learner's abilities to solve problems" instead of a memorization of information." (Author/AA)