Problem Solving (from slides) Flashcards
What are the five stages of the general problem solving model?
- Identify the problem
- Represent the problem
- Select a strategy
- Implement the strategy
- Evaluate the results
What do we know about the first stage of problem solving, identifying the problem?
- People are not in the habit of problem finding
- Enough background knowledge?
- People tend to be impulsive and not reflect on the nature of the problem
- Convergent vs. divergent thinking
What do we know about the second stage of problem solving, representing the problem?
- Consider external representations to relieve demand upon working memory and to organize information (e.g. pictures, diagrams, charts)
- Experts spend proportionally more time at this stage than novices
What do we know about the third stage of problem solving, selecting a strategy?
Placeholder
What do we know about the fourth stage of problem solving, implementing the strategy?
- Experts utilize more strategies (strategy shifting), consider more solutions, and evaluate solutions at a deeper level
What do we know about the fifth stage of problem solving, evaluating the results?
- The chance to improve problem solving skills rests at this stage and is very metacognitive in nature
- Teachers who are “reflective practitioners” spend more time at this stage
- The development of self-regulatory skills is dependent upon evaluation
What are the characteristics of an ill-defined problem?
- Desired goal is unclear
- Information is missing
- Several possible solutions
What are the characteristics of a well-defined problem?
- Goals clearly stated
- All information is present
- Only one correct solution
What are four obstacles to effective problem solving?
- Lack of experience in defining problem
- The tendency to rush toward a solution before the problem has been clearly identified
- The tendency to think convergently
- Lack of domain-specific knowledge
What is the transfer of learning?
Occurs when something learned at one time and place is applied to another setting. Difficult challenge for teachers; most people don’t realize the relevance of their prior knowledge in new situations, so it’s important to instill a “disposition for transfer” in your students, and to reduce inert knowledge.
What factors affect transfer?
- Structured practice that promotes automated problem solving increases transfer
- Meaningful learning leads to greater transfer than rote learning
- Relate problem-solving skills in one domain to another by the use of analogy. Students should see material as context-free rather than context-bound
- Give numerous worked-out examples
- Similarity between two situations increases transfer
- Transfer is more likely when only a short amount of time has elapsed after students have studied a topic
What does Ericsson say about the acquisition of expert performance?
- Strong proponent of environmental factors as mechanisms for the development of expertise
- “The prospects of a general theory of expert performance are based on the assumption that highly diverse forms of superior performances can be theoretically explained by a limited number of general mechanisms.”
- Supports the “10 year rule”
What do we know about the role of deliberate practice in expert performance/development?
- “Most effective learning requires a well-defined task with an appropriate difficulty level for the particular individual, informative feedback, and opportunities for repetition and correction of errors.”
- Improvement comes with increased practice regardless of initial talent/ability
- Initial differences attributable to talent/ability (g) decrease over time as a function of practice
- Quality, not just quantity, of practice is important
What is the difference between general intelligence and domain specific knowledge?
General intelligence is general ability typically measured via standardized tests; has a moderate to high predictive capacity for novel tests.
Domain specific knowledge is knowledge that individuals have about a particular field of study. High predictor of expertise in a given area.
What are the seven characteristics of experts?
- Experts excel only in their own domain.
- Experts process information in large units.
- Experts are faster than novices.
- Experts hold more information in short-term and long-term memory.
- Experts represent problems at a deeper level.
- Experts spend more time analyzing a problem.
- Experts are better monitors of their performance.
