Problem-Solving and Availability of Functions in Children

SUMMARYResults of previous experiments with high school students had indicated that subjects having available in a problem situation the necessary functions for the solution to a problem actually will solve this problem. In the present report some of the major assumptions underlying this conclusion are discussed, and the fpllowing one subjected to an experimental investigation: the same results as those obtained with the high school students will also be obtained with another population of subjects.To test this assumption pupils of the sixth grade of an elementary school of Oslo were chosen-as subjects. The pupils were given the same problem (the ball problem) and subjected to a procedure essentially the same as the one used in a previously reported experiment on high school students. The results did not support the previously drawn conclusion. Out of ten subjects giving the necessary functions five did not solve the problem. Additional instructions to the five subjects not solving the problem suggested that the reason these subjects did not solve the problem was the following: to these subjects a function available in the availability test was not available in the subsequent problem test. To test this suggestion a second experiment was designed. Here the necessary functions were demonstrated to the pupils in advance of the problem test and if a pupil did not solve the problem within 30 min. he was asked a question to remind him of the demonstrations. Whereas the high school students after the demonstrations had solved the problem close to one hundred percent, only about 50 percent of the pupils in the elementary school solved the problem. However, when the additional question was given to the subjects not solving the problem, another 25 percent solved it.Since it might be thought unfortunate to introduce the question after such a relatively long period as 30 min., a third experiment was performed where the question was given after 15 min. This alteration in the procedure seemed to raise the number of solutions close to one hundred percent.On the basis of these three experiments it is concluded that most likely the conclusion previously arrived at is valid also for children of the last grades in elementary school. When the necessary functions are available to the children in the problem situation, they will solve the problem. The present results do, however, indicate that the basic assumption underlying the previously applied procedure for ascertaining availability is not valid. To the children of this age a function available in the availability test need not be available in the subsequent problem test. It is suggested that this last finding probably is due to the fact that a function is less stable over time in children than in adults.