Developmental analysis of problem-solving in elementary school students using the tower of Hanoi

Problem-solving has an important and influential impact on all stages of life including education and social life. Using the tower of Hanoi, the present research tended to investigate the developmental cognitive processes of problem-solving in children aged 7-12. The study has a non-experimental design using a three-way ANOVA. The population consisted of all the primary school students (1st grade to 6th grade) in Qom Province in 1394-1395 (2016-2017). 180 students (15 girls and 15 boys in each grade) were selected randomly through stratified sampling. After learning how to solve the tower of Hanoi, they solved the 3-disk and the 4-disk tower of Hanoi. The number of movements and the solving time were recorded. To ensure the reliability of the collected data, a follow-up research was performed in 1395. The data were analyzed by repeated measurement (two inter–one intra). The obtained results revealed an overall linear cognitive and problem-solving development in children. It was also revealed that there were some differences in girls and boys when they tried to solve problems. Problem-solving skills in both girls and boys developed as the age increased which can be related to the nervous system development and maturity.