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CHILDREN'S USE OF DOMAIN‐SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND DOMAIN‐GENERAL STRATEGIES IN NOVEL PROBLEM SOLVING
Author(s) -
ENGLISH LYN
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8279.1992.tb01014.x
Subject(s) - set (abstract data type) , domain (mathematical analysis) , psychology , general knowledge , constraint (computer aided design) , knowledge base , domain knowledge , cognitive psychology , artificial intelligence , social psychology , computer science , mathematics , mathematical analysis , geometry , programming language
S ummary . Seventy‐two children aged 4 to 9 years were individually administered a set of six combinatorial problems involving the dressing of toy bears in all possible combinations of clothing items. Because the problem domain was novel, the children had to use their existing general strategies to help them solve the problems. Analyses of the children's responses revealed a series of increasingly sophisticated solution strategies (reflecting a knowledge of the combinatorial domain), plus a number of scanning actions serving primarily in a monitoring capacity (reflecting an application of general strategies). Significant associations were found between children's solution strategies and their scanning actions on each problem, with the children changing the nature of their scanning as they adopted more complex solution strategies. The nature of this association was a key factor in problem success, especially when there was an additional constraint on goal attainment. The findings of the study are examined in terms of changes in children's principled knowledge base and in the nature of their general strategies. Cases involving problem failure in the face of sophisticated domain knowledge highlight the importance of children applying the appropriate domain‐general strategies in both novel and routine problem solving.