problem solving

Improving the specialized problem solving skill is necessary for solving specialized problems at work because the correct and timely solution of work problems increases productivity and prevents its possible corresponding damages. Improving this skill is necessary for all people with any job, especially people with academic education in all fields of study. Machine design is one of the most important specializations of mechanical engineering and mechanical engineering of biosystems which students need to learn it well during their studies. Due to the high importance of specialized problem-solving skill, the necessity of proper implementation of the design process to solve various problems, and the effective role of education in improving this skill, the purpose of the present research is to review various materials in the field of teaching the design of machine elements with a focus on problem solving skill. In addition to teaching a suitable textbook, solving the home works of the textbook, and writing tests, teaching the design of machine elements requires five main components including 1. Idea generation, 2. Safety considerations, 3. Design of the day, 4. Improving designers’ responsibility, and 5. Conducting a project. Considering these cases in the educational course, a strong foundation and an important stimulus is provided for students to enter real design and product manufacturing with a problem solving approach.

Cities and urban areas have various urban planning problems, and if they are left unattended, not only new problems will emerge, but existing problems will also become more intense. Some planning theorists have emphasized on the need to focus directly on planning problems and presented various methods for finding and analyzing problems since the late 1970s. The problem can be thought as a theoretical or practical difficulty that shifts the researcher's attitude towards a subject and leads him to enrich his knowledge. To define the problem, it is required to describe the system including agents, relationships, people and environment, including the market, competition, methods and programs, and briefly, goals, opportunities and challenges define the problem. A problem is regarded as an opportunity for a decision or a barrier that makes it difficult to achieve a given or intended goal; therefore, in the definition of a problem, we refer to a problematic situation that has not yet been resolved and needs to be solved. Thus, when an obvious difference between the existing situation and the desired situation is recognized, the problem has been detected. Problem solving, merely, is not a single process and can be divided into four separate but related parts: identify or detect problem, problem definition, problem statement, and problem analysis. The purpose of the present research is to identify the structural-spatial-activity problems and the decision-making structure of the district 5 of Isfahan based on upstream texts and documents, the opinions of the residents of the region, and to trace the problems based on the opinions of the decision-making structure of the region. The research methodology is descriptive-analytical, and the problems are analyzed using creative problem-solving techniques (boundary test and fish bone method). According to the results of the study, the most important problems in this area are the decrease of residential values in some areas of the region, the inefficiency of roads and public transportation system, the low participation in the revitalization of worn-out areas, and the inefficiency of the urban management system.

Education is the most essential human need. Without education, no society can survive; but effective and useful education cannot be done by trial and error, it requires a plan. A review of previous research shows that little attention is paid to the issue of external cognitive load and higher-level learning, especially problem solving in the educational design in the country. Therefore, the present study was conducted with regard to the importance and impact of educational design patterns, especially Gagne's design pattern in the field of educational activities and its purpose was to investigate the effect of applying the Gagne's pattern on the external cognitive load and problem solving ability.

With respect to purpose, this was an applied study and with respect to methodology, this was considered as a quasi-experimental study (of the type of pretest-posttest with experimental and control groups). The population of the study consisted of male high school students in West Islamabad. To conduct the research, a high school from West Islamabad was randomly selected, using multistage cluster sampling method. From among the classes of this high school, two were selected as the experimental group and the control group. Then, based on their midterm scores, 15 students from each class were randomly divided into the two control and experimental groups. The experimental group was exposed to the independent variable and the control group was trained by the conventional method. Data were collected using a scale of Pass, Van Merrienboer and Adam. Another instrument was the researcher-made problem solving skill test whose validity was determined by experts and its reliability was 0.84 using retest method. Finally, the collected data were analyzed by using independent t-test and analysis of covariance.

For both groups in this study, homogeneity problem solving pre-test and post-test were performed first. After the experiment (Gagne's educational design pattern) was applied with the experimental group, the results showed  the relative superiority of the experimental group in a way that the average score obtained for this group in their problem solving skill (that is, 16.533) was higher than that of the control group (that is, 13.000). Also, there was a significant difference between the average of external cognitive load in the experimental group (6.600) and the control group (3.333). The results of the study showed that in terms of the external cognitive load, there is a statistically significant difference between the two control and experimental groups (t: 6.767, p < /em>: 0.01). In addition, the findings of the study revealed that Gargano’s educational design pattern had a significant effect on the reduction of the external cognitive load in the experimental group as compared to that of the control group. The findings also showed a significant increase in the problem solving skills in the experimental group as compared to those of the control group (p < /em>: 0.05, df: 1, F: 46.234).

Based on research findings, it can be concluded that the application of Gagne's pattern in the educational system can have a positive effect on achieving high levels of learning, and it is recommended that teachers and administrators of the educational system pay attention to this point. According to their authority on how to use different teaching methods, teachers can use the results of this research, and use this design method in preparing their lesson plans and applying it to their teaching.
 

The rapid growth of science and technology and the subsequent emergence of e-learning have revolutionized education. Also in this period, becoming aware of how the brain functions during the learning process has had important effects on training and learning. Educators are looking for ways to the most usage of technology-based facilities and new findings in educational neuroscience to obtain the optimal learning, especially in difficult subject matters such as computer programming course, which are associated with the problem-solving process. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of electronic courseware designed based on the brain based learning principles on problem-solving performance and motivation of the students in computer programming course.

This research is a quasi-experimental study, and was conducted with a pretest posttest control group design. In this study, sampling was done by cluster sampling method and thus 60 female students of the eleventh grade of computer fields of vocational schools in Isfahan were selected to participate in the study. Participants were randomly divided into 3 groups of 20 (experimental, control 1 and control 2). A literature review was conducted to identify the brain based learning strategies. Based on the lesson objectives and the strategies derived from the principles of brain based learning, an electronic courseware was designed and developed by the researcher and the expert team. The validity of this courseware was confirmed by experts. The intrinsic and extrinsic motivation subscales of Pintrich et al.'s questionnaire as well as a teacher-made computer programming problem-solving test were used as data collection tools, which were used as a pre-test and post-test, before and after the training, in all 3 groups.  The same content from the computer programming course was taught in all three groups. In the experimental group, in addition to the conventional method, an electronic courseware based on brain based learning strategies was used. In the first control group, in addition to conventional method, a non-brain based electronic courseware was used. The second control group was trained only in the conventional method.

The research data were analyzed using univariate covariance analysis on problem-solving performance test scores and multivariate covariance analysis on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation scores. The results of the study showed that the problem solving performance of experimental group was significantly better than the control 1 and control 2 groups (P <0.05) in computer programming course. Also, the extrinsic motivation of the experimental group was significantly higher (P <0.05) than the first control group. Based on these findings, the use of non-brain based courseware significantly (P <0.05) reduced the extrinsic motivation of control group 2 students compared to control group 1.

The use of electronic courseware designed and developed based on brain based learning principles has a significant impact on increasing student computer problem solving performance. Also, the application of brain based learning principles in designing and developing the electronic courseware makes more external motivation in the users of this courseware than the users of typical courseware while learning.

One of the most suitable methods whose main purposes is to teach problem-solving skills is Philosophy is for children. The interest in teaching thinking skills dates back to the late 1960s, when Professor Lippmann was teaching philosophy at Columbia University (New York) and realized that his students lacked the power of judgment and clear reasoning. After a while, he realized that it was too late to strengthen the thinking power of these students. Strengthening these abilities should have been done in their childhood. In other words, when these students were in childhood and adolescence, they had to start a series of special courses in critical thinking or problem solving or any other skill related to formal and non-formal logic. Different educational content can be provided to learners with various tools from books and lectures to the Internet or even computers. Given the importance of philosophical content for children and considering the capacity of new technologies such as multimedia and metamedia, it is possible to use them to provide effective and continuous learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of multimedia of philosophy for children on K-6 students’ problem solving in Javanroud town.

Method and Materials: 

To attain this aim, researchers used quasi pre-test and post-test experimental method with experimental and control groups. The statistical population included all the sixth grade elementary school students in Javanroud town studying in academic year of 2016-2017. Sixty students were selected through randomized cluster sampling to represent the experimental group (30 students) and control group (30 students). The instruments used in this study was Heppner's problem solving. Both groups were given a pretest, and at the end of the course a posttest was administered. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviation and inferential statistics including covariance analysis.

The findings showed that multimedia of philosophy for children is effective on improving the assertiveness.

Other researchers are advised to study the effectiveness of teaching philosophy to children in the context of technology on other important variables in education. It is also suggested that similar research be conducted in other educational levels. The most important limitations of the present study were the limited statistical population to sixth grade elementary school students. Also, the mere use of questionnaires and not using other methods of data collection such as observation and interviews are other limitations of this study.

Information literacy is a skill that enables a person to identify his information needs to understand and use it effectively. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between information literacy and life skills of elementary school teachers in the city of Miyandorood. The research method was descriptive, correlational one. The statistical population consisted of all primary school teachers in the city of Miyandorood (N= 360). The statistical sample was 186 participants that determined by the Cochran formula and selected by stratified random sampling according to gender. Data were gathered by using two standard questionnaires: life skills and information literacy questionnaires. The content and face validity of the instruments was confirmed by experts. Their reliability was calculated 0.89 and 0.83 respectively by using Cronbach Alpha. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze the data. Results indicated that there is a positive and significant correlation between information literacy and teacher's life skills. Also, there is a significant relationship between information literacy with empathy skills, communication skills, problem solving skills and creative thinking skills.

This investigation studies teaching via problem solving with emphasis on Scheonfeld's problem solving theory. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of training via problem solving based on Schoenfeld's mathematical problem solving theory on improving the student's beliefs in problem solving and increasing the group's activities and student's mathematical problem solving skills. This research has been studied at high school level with two randomly chosen groups of subject one control and one experimental group. The experimental group's teacher had been trained in a period of mathematical problem solving based on Schoenfeld's theory and the control group's teacher had not received any instruction. Pre and post-test was used to measure the progress of students in problem solving. A questionnaire was used to measure their beliefs and group activity before and after the training. The results of a t-test show significant differences between teaching via problem solving based on Schoenfeld's theory and student's group activity (t=3.595, p ) and problem solving ability (t=3.567 , p ). The analysis of u test shows there were significant relationships between teaching via problem solving based on Schoenfeld's theory and student's  beliefs (z=-4.349 , p 0.01).

Teaching and learning geometry at secondary level have usually many problems. Researches indicate that use of Dynamic Geometry Software (DGS) can reduce some of these difficulties. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of DGS on the ability of conjecture making in geometry problem solving at secondary level. One hundred forty-four students and teachers participated at this study. Results have been analyzed using the recorded sessions and clinical interviews. It shows that DGS causes the students to activate more relevant resources, highlight the links between the schemas and improve the control process. It also has positive effects on the students’ belief system.