the$developmentof$complex$ problem$solving$and$its$relaon ... · the development of complex problem...

The Development of Complex Problem Solving and its Relation to Reasoning, Age and Gender.

Szeged, 15th – 16th April 2013 Authors: Gidon Frischkorn, Samuel Greiff & Sascha Wüstenberg

The Development of Complex Problem Solving and its Rela:on to

Reasoning, Age and Gender. Gidon Frischkorn, Samuel Greiff

& Sascha Wüstenberg

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•  The Development of Complex Problem Solving (CPS) -  Introduc:on

Ø  Theory Ø  Research Ques:ons

-  Methods Ø  Design and Procedure Ø  Sta:s:cal Analyses

-  Results -  Discussion

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•  Introduc:on -  How do cogni:ve abili:es develop in general?

Ø  cogni:ve abili:es progress from birth un:l the end of late adolescence (NeSleback & Burns, 2010)

Ø  Development of basic cogni:ve skills (e.g. Processing speed & Working Memory) enhance the development of more complex cogni:ve skills (e.g. Reasoning Ability; Fry & Hale, 1996)

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PS = Processing Speed; WM = Working Memory; RA = Reasoning Ability



•  Introduc:on -  Implica:ons for CPS development

Ø  CPS skills progress with students growing older Ø  Development of CPS may rely on less complex cogni:ve abili:es

(e.g. Reasoning abili:es) Ø  Age plays an important role in CPS development

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•  Research Ques:ons (RQs) -  RQ 1: How does CPS develop over :me?

Ø  CPS should develop linearly over :me (Stelzl et al., 1995) -  RQ 2: Predic:on of CPS by Reasoning Ability (RA)

Ø  RA should show posi:ve rela:ons to ini:al CPS skills (Wüstenberg, Greiff & Funke, 2012)

Ø  b) RA should predict CPS development posi:vely -  RQ 3: Age and Sex differences in CPS & CPS development

Ø  a) Older students should have beSer CPS skills but show less CPS development (NeSleback & Burns, 2006; Molnár, Greiff, & Csapó, in press)

Ø  b) Males are expected to show beSer CPS performance than girls, regarding development no specific assump:ons were made (Wüstenberg, Greiff, Molnár, & Funke, submiSed)

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•  Methods -  Par:cipants: 277 students (56.0 % female, M(age) = 13.6)

-  Measures: Ø  CPS: 8 MicroDYN Tasks Ø  RA: Culture-‐Fair Test (CFT); Cogni:ve Abili:es Test (CAT)

-  Design: Ø  3 Measurement Points (about a year apart) Ø  CPS was assesed at all measurement Points Ø  CFT on first measurement point; CAT on second measurement

point

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•  Methods -  Statsi:cal Analyses

Ø  CPS development was analyzed with latent-‐growth curve models (LGCM; Muthen & Khoo, 1998) and RA, age and sex as :me invariant predictors

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•  Results -  Measurement Models (MM)

Ø  For CPS MMs were computed with the scores of all items aggregated to three parcels

Ø  For RA the MM was computed with global scores of CFT & CAT

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MM χ2 df p χ2/df CFI TLI RMSEAKAcqu (1) 0.410 1 0.52 0.41 1.000 1.000 0.000KAcqu (2) 1.023 1 0.31 1.02 1.000 1.000 0.010KAcqu (3) 0.029 1 0.86 0.03 1.000 1.000 0.000KAppl (1) 1.118 1 0.29 1.12 0.998 0.995 0.031KAppl (2) 0.059 1 0.08 0.06 1.000 1.000 0.000KAppl (3) 1.638 1 0.20 1.64 0.997 0.991 0.053RA 0.546 1 0.46 0.55 1.000 1.000 0.000



•  Results RQ 1: Development of CPS Model Fit: χ2(149) = 205.715, p < .01, CFI = .962, RMSEA = .037 -  CPS developed linearly over

:me (Mean linear slopes -‐ L) -  Ini:al CPS performance was

related posi:vely (Correla:on betwenn Intercepts)

-  CPS development was related posi:vely (Correla:on between linear slopes)

-  Ini:al Performance in CPS was related nega:vely with CPS development à Discussion

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IKAcqu LKAcqu QKAcqu

IKAppl LKAppl QKAppl

-.382**(.104)

.755**(.065)

.406**(.136)

.337**(.021)

.125**(.031)

-.015(.013)

.004(.014)

.224**(.021)

.078*(.033)

- .338**(.106)



•  Results RQ 2: Rela:on of RA to CPS and its development Model Fit: χ2(205) = 261.111, p < .01, CFI = .965, RMSEA = .031 -  RA predicted ini:al CPS

performance posi:vely -  RA predicted CPS development

only partly (due to large standard errors)

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Reasoning

IKAcqu LKAcqu

IKAppl LKAppl

- .729**

.564**(.093)

.513(.330)

.523*(.266)

.466**(.096)

- .587 **



•  Results RQ 3: Rela:on of age and gender to CPS and its development Model Fit: χ2(205) = 261.111, p < .01, CFI = .965, RMSEA = .031 -  Age showed posi:ve rela:ons

to ini:al CPS & partly nega:ve rela:ons to CPS development

-  Sex showed small mostly non-‐significant rela:ons to ini:al CPS and CPS development

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IKAcqu LKAcqu

IKAppl LKAppl

- .729**

.196*(.079)

- .342*(.140)

- .082(.100)

.170*(.085)

- .174(.108)

- .106(.079)

- .110(.117)

- .194*(..082)

- .587 **

age sex



•  Summary of all Results -  RQ 1: CPS showed linear development over :me -  RQ 2: Predic:on of CPS by Reasoning Ability (RA)

Ø  a) RA posi:vely predicted ini:al CPS skills Ø  b) RA partly predicted CPS development posi:vely

-  RQ 3: Age and Sex differences in CPS & CPS development Ø  a) Older students had beSer ini:al CPS skills but showed less CPS

development Ø  b) No gender differences were indicated in present results

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•  Discussion -  Nega:ve Rela:on of CPS Intercept and Slopes

Ø  Students with beSer ini:al CPS showed less CPS development Ø  Nega:vely accelerated development

-  Large standard errors Ø  Popula:on is maybe too small Ø  Replica:on is needed

à Nevertheless the present inves:ga:on showed some promising results regarding CPS development

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Szeged, 15th – 16th April 2013 Authors: Gidon Frischkorn, Samuel Greiff & Sascha Wüstenberg 14

Thank you very much for your aSen:on!

Further Ques:ons?



References Fry, A. F., & Hale, S. (1996). Processing Speed, Working Memory and Fluid Intelligence. Psychological

Science, 7(4). Molnár, G., Greiff, S., & Csapó, B.. (in press). Iduc:ve reasoning, domain specific and complex problem

solving: rela:ons and development. Thinking Skills and Crea:vity.

Muthén, B. O., & Khoo, S.-‐T. (1998). Longitudinal Studies of Achievement Growth Using Latent Vaiable Modeling. Learning and Individual Differences, 10, 73-‐101.

NeSelbeck, T., & Burns, N. R. (2010). Processing speed, working memory and reasoning ability from

childhood to old age. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 379.

Stelzl, I., Merz, F., Ehlers, T., & Remer, H. (1995). The Effect of Schooling on the Development of Fluid and Cristallized Intelligence: A Quasi-‐ Experimental Study. Intelligence, 21, 279-‐296.

Wüstenberg, S., Greiff, S., & Funke, J. (2012). Complex problem solving -‐ More than reasoning?

Intelligence, 40, 14 Wüstenberg, S., Greiff, S., Molnár, G., & Funke, J. (submiSed). Determinants of cross-‐na:onal gender

differences in comlpex problem solving competency. Learning and Individual Differences.

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