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Technical problem solving among 10‐year‐old students as related to science achievement, out‐of‐school experience, domain‐specific control beliefs, and attribution patterns
Author(s) -
Baumert Jürgen,
Evans Robert H.,
Geiser Helmut
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of research in science teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.067
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1098-2736
pISSN - 0022-4308
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-2736(199811)35:9<987::aid-tea3>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , control (management) , mathematics education , domain (mathematical analysis) , sample (material) , everyday life , structural equation modeling , science education , developmental psychology , social psychology , epistemology , computer science , artificial intelligence , chemistry , mathematics , mathematical analysis , philosophy , chromatography , machine learning
Using a sample of 531 10‐year‐olds from Germany and the United States, the study investigated the relationships among the structure of everyday experience, domain‐specific control beliefs, acquisition of science knowledge, and solving of everyday technical problems. It assumed that children acquire operative schemata through daily experiences with technical objects and toys which not only transfer to solving technical everyday problems but also have a positive influence on school science learning. It was also thought that the covariation between technical everyday experiences and science achievement/technical problem solving would be mediated by control beliefs. A causal model, developed and tested by means of structural equation modeling, showed that domain‐specific out‐of‐school experience only indirectly influences problem‐solving performance, mediated by control beliefs. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 987–1013, 1998.