This study explores the integration of Design Thinking into the Key Stage 3 Design and Technology (D&T) curriculum at a school in North-West England, focusing on fostering 21st-Century Skills alongside subject-specific knowledge. The research draws on a multiple case study approach derived from the 'Solving Genuine Problems for Authentic Users…

The purpose of this study was to understand cultural differences and similarities in children's creative characteristics in Korea and Australia. In this cross-cultural research, the Integrative Creativity Test (K-ICT, [13]) with identified validity and reliability for measuring elementary school students' creative ability and creative personality,…

As part of a 3-year longitudinal study, 136 sixth-grade students completed an engineering-based problem on earthquakes involving integrated STEM learning. Students employed engineering design processes and STEM disciplinary knowledge to plan, sketch, then construct a building designed to withstand earthquake damage, taking into account a number of…

This study focused on the extent to which the comparison of isomorphic problems might enrich subjects' representations and solving strategies. Results with 166 sixth graders solving isomorphic problems show that comprehension increased as problems were processed and that simultaneous presentation of all problems was more favorable than successive…

Investigates the relationship of locus-of-control orientation and task structure to the science problem-solving performance of 100 same-sex, sixth-grade student pairs. Some overall conclusions were that there was no relationship between locus-of-control orientation and effectiveness of problem-solving strategy. Internality was significantly…

Age-related changes in children's performance on simple division problems (e.g., 6 divided by 2, 72 divided by 9) were investigated by asking children in Grades 4 through 7 to solve 32 simple division problems. Differences in performance were found across grade, with younger children performing more slowly and less accurately than older children.…

This study was an investigation of the influence of word-problem context--the nonmathematical, verbal aspect of a problem--on fourth- and sixth-grade students' preferences for and problem solving performance on word problems. Problems were parallel in mathematical structure but differed by major context category--fantasy and real-world.…

Explores the mathematical problem posing and problem solving of U.S. (N=181) and Chinese (N=223) sixth-grade students. Reports that while Chinese students outperform U.S. students on computational tasks, there are many similarities and differences between U.S. and Chinese students in performing relatively novel tasks. Discusses the direct link…

Discusses some aspects of the defining process in geometrical context in the reference frame of the theory of "figural concepts." Presents analysis of some examples taken from a teaching experiment at the sixth-grade level. Contains 30 references. (Author/ASK)

Investigates the effects of an instructional intervention derived from the Garofalo and Lester cognitive-metacognitive framework on the problem-solving performance of year six students with different ability levels. Concludes that there was significant improvement in problem-solving performance for the experimental class compared to the control…

Open-ended tasks were used to examine gender differences in complex mathematical problem solving. The results of this study suggest that, overall, males perform better than females, but the gender differences vary from task to task. A qualitative analysis of student responses to those tasks with gender differences showed that male and female…

The use of a visual representation in learning about proportional relations was studied, examining students' understandings of the invariance of a multiplicative relation on both sides of a proportion equation and the invariance of the structural relations that exist in different semantic types of proportion problems. Subjects were 49 high-ability…

Examines the teacher's role in computer-based problem solving using sixth grade students and a computer program called Rocky's Boots. Ways in which the program could be used in thinking skills programs are discussed, program improvements are suggested, and teacher intervention is identified as a critical element in computer-based training. (LRW)

This report investigated to what extent a curriculum designed to actively teach critical thinking skills resulted in students utilizing higher-order thinking skills (e.g., analysis, synthesis and evaluation). An intervention strategy was designed for a sixth grade class located in a diverse suburban community in northern Illinois. The intervention…

Describes how the author used many versions of the Cinderella story as a springboard for a variety of activities in her sixth-grade class, including discussion of fairy tale elements, aspects of story structure, summarizing, and problem-solving activities. (SR)