Scaffolding Transfer Activities Through The Use Of Concept Maps To Enhance Adaptive Problem Solving In An Introductory Engineering Technology Course

To live well in the present, we take direction from the past. Yet, individuals may engage in a variety of behaviors that distort their past and current circumstances, reducing the likelihood of adaptive problem solving and decision making. In this article, we attend to self-deception as one such class of behaviors. Drawing upon research showing both the maladaptive consequences and self-perpetuating nature of self-deception, we propose that self-deception is an understudied risk and maintaining factor for psychopathology, and we introduce a “cognitive-integrity”-based approach that may hold promise for increasing the reach and effectiveness of our existing therapeutic interventions. Pending empirical validation of this theoretically-informed approach, we posit that patients may become more informed and autonomous agents in their own therapeutic growth by becoming more honest with themselves.

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Explicit teaching of problem categorization using concept mapping, and an exploratory study of its effect on student achievement and on conceptual understanding – the case of chemical equilibrium problems

Chemistry Teacher International ◽

10.1515/cti-2019-0021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Antonios Bakolis ◽

Dimitrios Stamovlasis ◽

Georgios Tsaparlis

Keyword(s):

Student Achievement ◽

Problem Solving ◽

Concept Mapping ◽

Conceptual Understanding ◽

Chemical Equilibrium ◽

Concept Maps ◽

Equilibrium Problems ◽

Solution Process ◽

Control Group ◽

Long Term Memory

Abstract A crucial step in problem solving is the retrieval of already learned schemata from long-term memory, a process which may be facilitated by categorization of the problem. The way knowledge is organized affects its availability, and, at the same time, it constitutes the important difference between experts and novices. The present study employed concept maps in a novel way, as a categorization tool for chemical equilibrium problems. The objective was to determine whether providing specific practice in problem categorization improves student achievement in problem solving and in conceptual understanding. Two groups of eleventh-grade students from two special private seminars in Corfu island, Greece, were used: the treatment group (N = 19) and the control group (N = 21). Results showed that the categorization helped students to improve their achievement, but the improvement was not always statistically significant. Students at lower (Piagetian) developmental level (in our sample, students at the transitional stage) had a larger improvement, which was statistically significant with a high effect size. Finally, Nakhleh’s categorization scheme, distinguishing algorithmic versus conceptual subproblems in the solution process, was studied. Dependency of problem solving on an organized knowledge base and the significance of concept mapping on student achievement were the conclusion.

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