2011 Conference Archive
Abstract
Protocol Analysis or think alouds are a research tool originally developed by cognitive psychologists for the purpose of studying how people solve problems. The basic idea being that if a subject can be trained to think out loud while completing a certain task, then the introspections can be analyzed and may provide insights into misunderstandings as well as higher thinking and can be used to remove bottlenecks. This talk is a report of a think aloud conducted with calculus students to understand their difficulties with problem solving. A coding scheme developed by the authors based on Pólya's four step problem solving process which was used in the analysis will be discussed. A rubric created for the scoring will also be presented. The process will be demonstrated through a simple activity.
Location
Room 2904
Publication Type and Release Option
Event
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Premadasa, Kirthi and Bhatia, Kavita, "Why Can't They Solve It? Using Protocol Analysis to Unlock Problem Solving Mysteries" (2011). SoTL Commons Conference. 61.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2011/61
Why Can't They Solve It? Using Protocol Analysis to Unlock Problem Solving Mysteries
Room 2904
Protocol Analysis or think alouds are a research tool originally developed by cognitive psychologists for the purpose of studying how people solve problems. The basic idea being that if a subject can be trained to think out loud while completing a certain task, then the introspections can be analyzed and may provide insights into misunderstandings as well as higher thinking and can be used to remove bottlenecks. This talk is a report of a think aloud conducted with calculus students to understand their difficulties with problem solving. A coding scheme developed by the authors based on Pólya's four step problem solving process which was used in the analysis will be discussed. A rubric created for the scoring will also be presented. The process will be demonstrated through a simple activity.
