Teaching Problem Solving

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a computer simulation in enhancing student learning in a unit of health. This study involved 30 mildly handicapped students who were randomly assigned to one of two instructional groups: (a) structured teaching and (b) a combi-nation of structured teaching and a computer simulation. Students were taught for 12 consecutive days. The first half of each day's lesson followed effective teaching practices. The second half was (a) a computer simulation or (b) traditional enrichment and application exercises. Following the last day of instruction, students were tested on basic facts, concepts, and health problem-solving skills. Posttest results indicated significant differences on basic facts and concepts that were reinforced by the simulation (p <.01). These differences were retained on a maintenance test given 2 weeks after the posttest. The most significant differences were on the test that measured problem-solving skills (p <.001). The results show that the combination of structured teaching and a computer simulation was effective in teaching not only factual-level knowledge, but higher cognitive skills as well. Secondary students spend a considerable amount of their time complet-ing application-oriented activities. In performing these tasks, students are asked to make a variety of inferences about a subject area by prudently using facts, concepts, and strategies or problem-solving skills. Unfortu-nately, it is easier just to teach students rote memory information and procedural knowledge (i.e., the literal algorithms used in solving a problem) than the comprehension and problem-solving skills called for in man