Chapter 1, page 24
The students who had tried to solve the initial problem on their own were seldom successful at
coming up with a solution to this problem before they were taught the solution. Even so, they were better
at solving the later transfer problem. Trying to solve the initial problem on their own helped them
recognize that they could use what they had learned in the initial problem later on when they tried to solve
the final transfer problem. In short, when students tried to solve problems on their own (even when
unsuccessful) before they were taught how to solve the problem, they were better at solving similar new
problems on their own.
A central goal of this text is to help you build knowledge that you can apply to address problems
you will face as a teacher. I strongly recommend that you spend several minutes trying to solve each
problem in each chapter before reading the response. By trying to solve the problem, you are more likely
to learn the concepts in a way that will help you apply the concepts to future problems.
Reflecting on Students’ Thinking
At the beginning of each chapter except for Chapter 1 is a problem called Reflecting on Students’
Thinking. This feature is inspired by research conducted by learning scientist Dan Schwartz and his
colleagues (D. L. Schwartz & Bransford, 1998; D. L. Schwartz & Martin, 2004). In one of their
experiments (D. L. Schwartz & Bransford, 1998), one group of undergraduates in a cognitive psychology
course initially learned about human memory and forgetting in a traditional way—by reading textbook
passages. Undergraduates in a second group were shown real examples of what people had remembered
and forgotten after reading short narratives; the undergraduates tried to analyze the examples and explain
Step 4. All of the students attempted to solve this transfer problem,
which has a solution very similar to the initial problem.Before the Inaugural Gala, organizers were hurriedly trying to decorate the hall.
Everything was nearly ready, and it was about ten minutes before the President-
Elect was scheduled to arrive. Mr. Smith was decorating the walls and ceiling
with balloons and party streamers made out of ribbon. He had nearly completed
a fancy decoration pattern when he noticed two final pieces of ribbon were left
dangling from the tiled ceiling above. He had planned to knot these two final
pieces of ribbon together in order to attach balloons to them. However, when he
grabbed the end of the green ribbon, he was unable to grasp the end of the blue
ribbon at the same time. The ribbons could simply not be knotted together in this
way. Since everyone had momentarily left the room, Mr. Smith thought that he
would have to abandon this bit of decoration altogether. Suddenly, an idea
struck him, and he was able to knot together these two ribbons. How?(Students were not told the solution to this problem, but the solution is
analogous to the solution of the problem of the explorer in the jungle. Mr. Smith
can tie a weight onto the bottom of one of the ribbons, swing that ribbon, run
and grab the other ribbon, and then catch the first ribbon—the one with the
weight—when its pendulum motion brings it within reach.)