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Problem-solving Tasks (problem-solving + task)
Selected AbstractsNew directions in evaluating social problem solving in childhood: Early precursors and links to adolescent social competenceNEW DIRECTIONS FOR CHILD & ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT, Issue 123 2009Susan H. Landry A major objective of this chapter is to present a novel, ecologically sensitive social problem-solving task for school-aged children that captures the complexity of social and cognitive demands placed on children in naturalistic situations. Competence on this task correlates with a range of skills including executive functions, verbal reasoning, and attention. Children able to successfully carry out this task in middle school were more competent in early adolescence in collaborating in joint problem-solving tasks with peers and solving conflicts with parents. [source] Exploring the rabbit hole of possibilities by myself or with my group: The benefits and liabilities of activating counterfactual mind-sets for information sharing and group coordination,JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DECISION MAKING, Issue 4 2004Katie A. Liljenquist Abstract The current experiment explored the effect of activating a counterfactual mind-set on the discussion of unique information and group judgment accuracy. Evidence suggests that a counterfactual mind-set is characterized by a focused, analytic mental state and, when activated at the group level, improves group judgment accuracy in the murder mystery paradigm (a hidden profile task). We hypothesized that the beneficial effect of the counterfactual mind-set would only help group problem-solving tasks if the mind-set had been activated at the group level, allowing the analytical mind-set to play out in an atmosphere of synergistic coordination. In contrast, if this highly focused mental state is activated at the individual level, it could impair group judgment quality because inwardly focused analytical individuals may fail to coordinate their behavior with other group members. Consistent with our hypothesis, activating a counterfactual mind-set at the individual level had a debilitating effect on the group judgment task, whereas activating a counterfactual mind-set at the group level had a facilitative effect, increasing information sharing, synergistic coordination and judgment accuracy. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Prediction of general mental ability based on neural oscillation measures of sleepJOURNAL OF SLEEP RESEARCH, Issue 3 2005RÓBERT BÓDIZS Summary The usual assessment of general mental ability (or intelligence) is based on performance attained in reasoning and problem-solving tasks. Differences in general mental ability have been associated with event-related neural activity patterns of the wakeful working brain or physical, chemical and electrical brain features measured during wakeful resting conditions. Recent evidences suggest that specific sleep electroencephalogram oscillations are related to wakeful cognitive performances. Our aim is to reveal the relationship between non-rapid eye movement sleep-specific oscillations (the slow oscillation, delta activity, slow and fast sleep spindle density, the grouping of slow and fast sleep spindles) and general mental ability assessed by the Raven Progressive Matrices Test (RPMT). The grouping of fast sleep spindles by the cortical slow oscillation in the left frontopolar derivation (Fp1) as well as the density of fast sleep spindles over the right frontal area (Fp2, F4), correlated positively with general mental ability. Data from those selected electrodes that showed the high correlations with general mental ability explained almost 70% of interindividual variance in RPMT scores. Results suggest that individual differences in general mental ability are reflected in fast sleep spindle-related oscillatory activity measured over the frontal cortex. [source] Explicitly Teaching for Transfer: Effects on the Mathematical Problem-Solving Performance of Students with Mathematics DisabilitiesLEARNING DISABILITIES RESEARCH & PRACTICE, Issue 2 2002Lynn S. Fuchs The purpose of this study was to explore methods to enhance mathematical problem solving for students with mathematics disabilities (MD). A small-group problem-solving tutoring treatment incorporated explicit instruction on problem-solution rules and on transfer. The transfer component was designed to increase awareness of the connections between novel and familiar problems by broadening the categories by which students group problems requiring the same solution methods and by prompting students to search novel problems for these broad categories. To create a stringent test of efficacy, we incorporated a computer-assisted practice condition, which provided students with direct practice on real-world problem-solving tasks. We randomly assigned 40 students to problem-solving tutoring, computer-assisted practice, problem-solving tutoring plus computer-assisted practice, or control, and pre- and posttested students on three problem-solving tasks. On story problems and transfer story problems, tutoring (with or without computer-assisted practice) effected reliably stronger growth compared to control; effects on real-world problem solving, although moderate to large, were not statistically significant. Computer-assisted practice added little value beyond tutoring but, alone, yielded moderate effects on two measures. [source] New directions in evaluating social problem solving in childhood: Early precursors and links to adolescent social competenceNEW DIRECTIONS FOR CHILD & ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT, Issue 123 2009Susan H. Landry A major objective of this chapter is to present a novel, ecologically sensitive social problem-solving task for school-aged children that captures the complexity of social and cognitive demands placed on children in naturalistic situations. Competence on this task correlates with a range of skills including executive functions, verbal reasoning, and attention. Children able to successfully carry out this task in middle school were more competent in early adolescence in collaborating in joint problem-solving tasks with peers and solving conflicts with parents. [source] Learning from leading-edge customers at The Sims: opening up the innovation process using toolkitsR & D MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2006Reinhard Prügl Recently, toolkits for user innovation and design have been proposed as a promising means of opening up the innovation process to customers. Using these tools, customers can take on problem-solving tasks and design products to fit their individual needs. To date, arguments in favor of this new concept have been limited to the idea of satisfying each user's needs in a highly efficient and valuable way. The aim of this empirical study is to extend our knowledge of how users deal with ,the invitation to innovate' and how attractive individual user designs might be to other users. In studying the users of toolkits for the immensely popular computer game The Sims, we found that (1) users are not ,one-time shoppers', in fact, their innovative engagement is rather long-lasting, continuous, evolving, and intense. We also found that (2) leading-edge users do not merely content themselves with the official toolkits provided by the manufacturer. They employ user-created tools to push design possibilities even further. (3) Moreover, individual user designs are not only attractive to the creators themselves; instead, certain innovative solutions are in high demand among other users. Based on our findings, we discuss how toolkits and their users might add to the process of innovation in general. We argue that toolkits could serve as a promising market research tool for guiding a firm's new product development efforts. Furthermore, toolkits may serve as a crčche for interested but inexperienced users who could evolve into leading-edge users over time. These innovative users might then be integrated into more radical product development efforts. [source] Effects of early rearing conditions on problem-solving skill in captive male chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PRIMATOLOGY, Issue 7 2010Naruki Morimura Abstract Early rearing conditions of captive chimpanzees characterize behavioral differences in tool use, response to novelty, and sexual and maternal competence later in life. Restricted rearing conditions during early life hinder the acquisition and execution of such behaviors, which characterize the daily life of animals. This study examined whether rearing conditions affect adult male chimpanzees' behavior skills used for solving a problem with acquired locomotion behavior. Subjects were 13 male residents of the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Uto: 5 wild-born and 8 captive-born. A pretest assessed bed building and tool use abilities to verify behavioral differences between wild- and captive-born subjects, as earlier reports have described. Second, a banana-access test was conducted to investigate the problem-solving ability of climbing a bamboo pillar for accessing a banana, which might be the most efficient food access strategy for this setting. The test was repeated in a social setting. Results show that wild-born subjects were better able than captive-born subjects to use the provided materials for bed building and tool use. Results of the banana-access test show that wild-born subjects more frequently used a bamboo pillar for obtaining a banana with an efficient strategy than captive-born subjects did. Of the eight captive-born subjects, six avoided the bamboo pillars to get a banana and instead used, sometimes in a roundabout way, an iron pillar or fence. Results consistently underscored the adaptive and sophisticated skills of wild-born male chimpanzees in problem-solving tasks. The rearing conditions affected both the behavior acquisition and the execution of behaviors that had already been acquired. Am. J. Primatol. 72:626,633, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Comparison of student performance in cooperative learning and traditional lecture-based biochemistry classesBIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY EDUCATION, Issue 6 2005William L. Anderson Abstract Student performance in two different introductory biochemistry curricula are compared based on standardized testing of student content knowledge, problem-solving skills, and student opinions about the courses. One curriculum was used in four traditional, lecture-based classes (n = 381 students), whereas the second curriculum was used in two cooperative learning classes (n = 39 students). Students in the cooperative learning classes not only performed at a level above their peers in standardized testing of content knowledge and in critical thinking and problem-solving tasks (p < 0.05), but they also were more positive about their learning experience. The testing data are in contrast to much of the medical school literature on the performance of students in problem-based learning (PBL) curricula, which shows little effect of the curricular format on student exam scores. The reason for the improvement is undoubtedly multifactorial. We argue that the enhancement of student performance in this study is related to: 1) the use of peer educational assistants, 2) an authentic PBL format, and 3) the application of a multicontextual learning environment in the curricular design. Though educationally successful, the cooperative learning classes as described in this study were too resource intensive to continue; however, we are exploring incorporation of some of the "high context" aspects of the small-group interactions into our current lecture-based course with the addition of on-line PBL cases. [source] | |||||||||||||