Purpose: This study examined the relationship between arithmetic word problem solving skill in first graders and 1) their oral language skill, 2) their nonverbal understanding of mathematical sets, and 3) rewording and gesture scaffolds designed to help the children access both the linguistic and the nonverbal content of Compare 6 word problems. Method: Two groups of first graders (15 with good...

Problem solving is a signature attribute of adult humans, but we need to understand how this develops in children. Tool use is proposed as an ideal way to study problem solving in children less than 3 years of age because overt manual action can reveal how the child plans to achieve a goal. Motor errors are as informative as successful actions. Research is reviewed on intentional actions, begin...

The set of skills that is required to be a successful citizen in the 21st century is rapidly evolving. New technologies and social systems grow increasingly complex and require individuals to quickly and flexibly adapt to new and changing circumstances. This paper outlines the key features of the domain of adaptive problem solving that is proposed to be assessed in the 2nd cycle of the OECD Sur...

Divergent thinking (DT) is the ability to generate diverse solutions to a problem. This type of problem solving helps analysts to engage in alternate analysis, that is, the ability to consider multiple hypotheses (Haarmann, Platt, Donavos, Fox, & Bowles, 2007). DT is cognitive skill that can be trained (for a review see Haarmann, O'Rourke, & Ragusa, 2013), including in analysts (Haarmann, Georg...

Construction of a mapping between educational content and skills is an important part of development of adaptive educational systems. This task is difficult, requires a domain expert, and any mistakes in the mapping may hinder the potential of an educational system. In this work we study techniques for improving a problem-skill mapping constructed by a domain expert using student data, particul...

Cognitive load research has shown that learning from worked-out examples, in comparison to problem solving, is very effective during the initial stages of cognitive skill acquisition. In later stages, however, solving problems is superior. In this contribution, theoretical analyses of different types of cognitive load and their changes over the stages of skill acquisition are presented. Two bas...