21st century skills. Recent advancements and international developments. Special Issue

in Thinking Skills and Creativity (2015), 8

Complex problem solving. A new curricular perspective for the 21st century.

Presentation (2014, September)

Introduction on problem solving and empirical results on the use of strategies in complex problem solving tasks.

Scientific Conference (2014, April 30)

Assessment of Complex Problem Solving. What we know and what we don’t know

Scientific Conference (2014, April)

Cross-national gender differences in complex problem solving and their determinants.

in Learning and Individual Differences (2014), 29

The present study examined cross-national gender differences in domain-general complex problem solving (CPS) and their determinants. A CPS test relying on the MicroDYN approach was applied to a sample of ... [more ▼]

The present study examined cross-national gender differences in domain-general complex problem solving (CPS) and their determinants. A CPS test relying on the MicroDYN approach was applied to a sample of 890 Hungarian and German high school students attending 8th to 11th grade. Results based on multi-group confirmatory factor analyses showed that measurement invariance of CPS was found across gender and nationality. Analyses of latent mean differences revealed that males outperformed females and German students outperformed Hungarian students. However, these results were caused by Hungarian females performing worse than all other groups. Further analyses of logfiles capturing process data of the interaction of participants with the task showed that Hungarian females less often used vary-one-thing-at-a-time strategy, which lead to considerably worse knowledge acquisition. Results imply that analyzing process data such as use of strategies is highly advisable to identify determinants of overall performance differences in CPS across groups of interest. [less ▲]

Extending the Assessment of Complex Problem Solving to Finite State Automata: Embracing Heterogeneity

in European Journal of Psychological Assessment (2014), Advance Online Publication

Recent advancements in the assessment of Complex Problem Solving (CPS) build on the use of homogenous tasks that enable the reliable estimation of CPS skills. The range of problems featured in established ... [more ▼]

Recent advancements in the assessment of Complex Problem Solving (CPS) build on the use of homogenous tasks that enable the reliable estimation of CPS skills. The range of problems featured in established instruments such as MicroDYN is consequently limited to a specific subset of homogeneous complex problems. This restriction is problematic when looking at domain-specific examples of complex problems, which feature characteristics absent from current assessment instruments (e.g., threshold states). We propose to utilize the formal framework of Finite State Automata (FSA) to extend the range of problems included in CPS assessment. An approach based on FSA, called MicroFIN, is presented, translated into specific tasks, and empirically investigated. We conducted an empirical study (N = 576), (1) inspecting the psychometric features of MicroFIN, (2) relating it to MicroDYN, and (3) investigating the relations to a measure of reasoning (i.e., CogAT). MicroFIN (1) exhibited adequate measurement characteristics and multitrait- multimethod models indicated (2) the convergence of latent dimensions measured with MicroDYN. Relations to reasoning (3) were moderate and comparable to the ones previously found for MicroDYN. Empirical results and corresponding explanations are discussed. More importantly, MicroFIN highlights the feasibility of expanding CPS assessment to a larger spectrum of complex problems. [less ▲]

The development of complex problem solving: a latent growth curve analysis

in Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation (2014), 106

Explaining Complex Problem Solving with a set of non-curricular cognitive competence tasks and task interest in low-stakes assessment

Presentation (2014)

The development of Complex Problem Solving and its relation to reasoning, age and gender.

Scientific Conference (2013, April 15)

Validity of the MicroDYN approach: Complex problem solving predicts school grades beyond working memory capacity

in Learning and Individual Differences (2013), 24

This study examines the validity of the complex problemsolving (CPS) test MicroDYN by investigating a) the relation between its dimensions – rule identification (exploration strategy), rule knowledge ... [more ▼]

This study examines the validity of the complex problemsolving (CPS) test MicroDYN by investigating a) the relation between its dimensions – rule identification (exploration strategy), rule knowledge (acquired knowledge), rule application (control performance) – and working memory capacity (WMC), and b) whether CPS predicts school grades in different domains beyond WMC. A sample of n=393 German high school students (age M=17.07, SD=1.12) completed the computer-based tests Memory Updating Numerical and the CPS scenario MicroDYN. Using structural equation modeling, WMC predicted rule knowledge and rule application, which remained substantially correlated after controlling forWMC. Rule knowledge predicted school grades in science and social studies beyondWMC, but not in language subjects. Explanations for the differential concurrent validity of CPS as well as prerequisites for valid CPS assessment are discussed. [less ▲]