Psychology of Computer Use: X. Effect of Learning Logo on Children's Problem-Solving Skills

1989 ◽  
Vol 64 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1327-1337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Poulin-Dubois ◽  
Catherine A. McGilly ◽  
Thomas R. Shultz

A natural experiment was used to determine whether learning the computer language Logo improves children's problem-solving strategies outside of the Logo context. 8-yr.-olds who learned Logo in school were found to use both debugging techniques and procedurality in their computer programming. They and a group of control children of the same age were pre- and posttested on a game requiring debugging skills (Mastermind) and another game requiring procedural skills (Tower of Hanoi). Boys, but not girls, trained in Logo showed an improvement in debugging skills relative to the control children. Improvement in procedural skills was not related to training in Logo. The results were discussed in terms of distance of transfer, degree of expertise, and the basis of sex differences in computer programming.

2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Hernández-Serrano ◽  
José P. Espada ◽  
Alejandro Guillén-Riquelme

<p>The objectives of the present study are the following ones: 1) to study the use of drugs, the prosocial behaviour and the problem-solving skills with respect to age and gender, and 2) to analyze the association of both the prosocial behaviour and the problem-solving skills with the use of drugs. An exploratory cross-sectional study was performed, amongst a sample of 567 students in Spanish Compulsory Secondary Education (48.14% males) with an age range from 14 to 17 years (<em>M </em>= 14.92; <em>SD </em>= 0.90). Statistically significant differences were found concerning alcohol use and the prosocial behaviour with respect to gender, as well as concerning alcohol and cannabis use with respect to age. Logistic regression analyses revealed statistical significance of the prosocial behaviour with respect to the use of alcohol and cannabis. The ability in problem-solving was the most important protective predictor with respect to the abuse of cannabis. The results from this study enhance the importance of tailored interventions based on the promotion of prosocial behaviours and/or problem-solving strategies as fundamental protective factors for substance use amongst adolescents.</p>


1982 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-44
Author(s):  
Glenda Lappan ◽  
Elizabeth Phillips ◽  
M. J. Winter

With the publication of An Agenda for Action: Recommendations for School Mathematics of the 1980s, the NCTM has emphasized its support for helping students to develop and use problem-solving skills. The challenge for the teacher is to provide opportunities for the development of the e skill while teaching mathematical concept that comprise the basic curriculum. With the wide-spread availability of calculators, teachers have a tool that can be used to expand the study of many basic mathematical idea to include the development of problem-solving strategies. Calculations that would be so time consuming as to be impractical if they were done with paper and pencil, can be quickly done with a calculator.


1980 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 335-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane O. Swafford

The study investigated sex-related differences among first-year algebra students with respect to achievement, attitude, and consumer problem-solving skills. The subjects were 329 females and 294 males enrolled in first-year algebra courses in 17 schools across the country. In the fall, no sex-related differences were evident in arithmetic computational skill or attitude about the usefulness and enjoyment of mathematics. Males showed a slight advantage on consumer items. In the spring, no sex-related differences in algebra achievement were found; a decline in attitude was observed for both groups; and the differences on consumer exercises became more pronounced.


1998 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell Gersten ◽  
Scott Baker

This article presents a conceptual framework for refining instruction in science for students with disabilities. We review the concept of situated cognition as a way to address difficulties students have in retention and generalization, a perennial issue in special education. If a goal for students is real world use of problem-solving strategies, students must have opportunities for contextual learning. The proposed framework suggests that integration of explicit instruction in critical concepts, with cognitively based approaches that emphasize problem-solving skills on real world tasks may allow students with disabilities to be successful The implications this framework has in terms of policy, professional development, and the creation of learning environments that promote retention and transfer are discussed.


2001 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-33
Author(s):  
SUSAN KANOWITH-KLEIN ◽  
MEL STAVE ◽  
RON STEVENS ◽  
ADRIAN M. CASILLAS

Educators emphasize the importance of problem solving that enables students to apply current knowledge and understanding in new ways to previously unencountered situations. Yet few methods are available to visualize and then assess such skills in a rapid and efficient way. Using a software system that can generate a picture (i.e., map) of students’ strategies in solving problems, we investigated methods to classify problem-solving strategies of high school students who were studying infectious and noninfectious diseases. Using maps that indicated items students accessed to solve a software simulation as well as the sequence in which items were accessed, we developed a rubric to score the quality of the student performances and also applied artificial neural network technology to cluster student performances into groups of related strategies. Furthermore, we established that a relationship existed between the rubric and neural network results, suggesting that the quality of a problem-solving strategy could be predicted from the cluster of performances in which it was assigned by the network. Using artificial neural networks to assess students’ problem-solving strategies has the potential to permit the investigation of the problem-solving performances of hundreds of students at a time and provide teachers with a valuable intervention tool capable of identifying content areas in which students have specific misunderstandings, gaps in learning, or misconceptions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Ernest Ampadu

Most students experience different levels of difficulties in learning mathematics. TIMSS results have shown that most students in Ghana do not perform well in higher level tasks designed to assess applications and non-routine problems. This study, therefore, aimed at examining Ghanaian Junior and Senior High School mathematics teachers problem-solving strategies and their professional development needs about problem-solving. 114 mathematics teachers from 28 Junior High School (JHS) and Senior High School (SHS) in the Cape Coast Metropolis took part in the study. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. The results from the study show that although teachers appreciate the importance of problem-solving in improving mathematics teaching and learning, there has not been the needed problem-solving training to support teachers in this regard. The researcher, therefore, argue that despite the numerous advantages associated with problem-solving strategy of teaching and learning, continuous professional development training for teachers should be paramount in our quest for helping students develop problem solving skills. Ghanaian JHS and SHS students can be in a disadvantageous position as they compete with their peers from other countries in international comparison examinations if our teachers are not given the needed support to become proficient in the use of problem-solving strategies in the classrooms.


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