Chapter 9 FRQ Flashcards
schema
: Students should describe the initial schema involved in the problem: viewing the cinder blocks as support. The concept or framework for cinder blocks involved their typical use as a support structure. This schema is later changed (see assimilation and accommodation below).
assimilation
Students should explain that initially the stimuli of boards and cinder blocks were interpreted through the existing schema (assimilation). For example, the cinder blocks were first interpreted as a support structure, because that was the existing schema (mental framework) for the cinder blocks.
accommodation
Students should explain that the schema for the cinder blocks was changed through the process of the problem-solving exercise. The first schema of “cinder blocks as support structure” was changed to “cinder blocks as counterweight” when the students discovered this new use.
formal operations
Students should explain that reasoning through this problem involved hypothetical reasoning, which is typical of the formal operations stage. Younger students who are not yet in formal operations would have more difficulty considering the hypothetical solution to this problem.
algorithm
Students should explain that the group could have used an algorithm to solve this problem, perhaps by trying every possible combination of planks and cinder blocks. This algorithm technique would guarantee the correct answer but would be very time-consuming.
heuristic
Students should explain that the group likely used heuristic (mental shortcuts) rather than algorithms to solve the problem. The group probably used their past experiences with planks and cinder blocks to suggest likely solutions rather than testing each possible solution.
functional fixedness
Students should explain that functional fixedness, the tendency to focus on typical uses of the objects (such as using the cinder blocks as support), likely hindered the problem-solving process
