PRACTICE3

Conceptsandproblemsolving

MarBaeras
JoanaBastarda
AinaCadafalch
NriaCardona
HelenaGinesta
MercSoler
Group71SeminarA

In this practice we have interviewed three students of the first, second and third cycle each
one to know what they think about concepts and topics such as as friendship, racism,love,
science or politics. And we have also asked to the children fromthesecondand thirdgrade
tosolveaproblem.
Thereby, we would be able to compare the three answers so we could observe the
differences between the three students, considering their age and the grade they are
coursing.

COMMENTARY

According to the age of the girl of the 1st grade, she should be included in the concrete
operational stage (612 years) but we think that she better fits in the preoperational stage
(26 years) because of the way she describes the different conceptsismainlyrelatedtoher
experiences and her answers are still egocentric. E.g. What is happiness?WhenIplaywith
mybestfriend.

The girl from 4th grade belong totheconcreteoperationalage(612yearsold).Inthiscase,

we think that she coincides with this stage taking into account the kind of answers that she
has given foreach question.Asanexamplewhenshe isaskedforthemeaningoffriendship
sheanswersexpressingherfeelingsandshedoesnotrefertoanyconcreteexperience.

The girl from 6th grade, she should be included in the concrete operational stage (612
years) but we think that she better fits in formal operational stage (from 13 years) because
she has an abstract thinking. She has acquired the ability to think systematically about all
logical relations within a problem. As she is entering on the adolescence she displayskeen
interest in abstract ideas like the concepts oflove,friendship...andintheprocessofthinking
itself.

If we compare the answers we can see a growing complexity and maturity with advancing
age. There is a huge difference between the girl from the first grade and the two girls of
higher grades, for example, in the first stage, most of the concepts are unknown for her
(racism, salary, politicians, crisis and salary), whereas the girl from the fourth grade is not
only answering the questions but providing examples of her experiences to make itclearer.
(Friendship: is to play with someone, to talk with someone and to be generous with them.
And for example when there is a new student in the school, gotoplaywithhim.Ifyouhave

friendship you can also have problems.). The girl of six grade has shorter answersandshe
uses less experiences to complete the responses but she goes a step further and she
classify some words in categories(friendship: Itisafeelingthatyouhavefor anotherperson
anditisverybeautiful.)for eachconcept.Wecanperceiveaprocessofmentalandpersonal
maturation. This is a process that involves a progressive evolution of the child skills thanks
totheteachersupportandtheknowledgethatheorshetransmits.

Those concepts influence directly in the process of personal cognitive development. This
process implies a lots of skills that children need to work in order to achieve knowledge.
Through the perception they receive the notions, thanks to the memory they are able to
accumulate and improve the information and finally teachers need to promote attention in
ordertomotivatekidstolearnandtocreateaninspiringenvironmenttoachievenewgoals.

Knowledge can be transmitted through a lot of different ways, and experiences is a really
interesting strategy to use because kids get more involved if they can share things of their
life. If we take a look to the interviews we can see that the three of them use their own
experiences to explain the different concepts because this is an easy way to do it forthem.
Knowledge is basic in order to allow the growth personally and academically.Motivationits
maybe one of the most importantvaluetouseforthecognitiveprocessbecauseitsbasicto
promotekidsactivelearningandparticipation.

We can find an influence of sociocultural aspects in their answers, butnotregarding allthe

questions. For instance, the questions about explaining poverty, crisis and racism are more
linked to sociocultural aspects. In other words, some of the children interviewed answered
these types of questions with accordingthepointofviewthathasoursociety.Thecontextis
a very strong aspect that influence on us and as we can just see in their answers it also
determinesinpartinourwayofthinkinganditshapesourattitudetowardsconceptstoo.
So, if we ask the same question in another context (for instance, if we change the country)
the answer could be quite different. As you can see what we have explained in the first
paragraph,hereyoucanfindsomeexamples:

Whatisthecrisis?
A time that we are living right nowinwhich people havelessmoney,anditisadifficult time.
th
This girl (6
grade) has an influence of the sociocultural aspect when answering the
question as it focuses the concept to what is living in her present days (something that
affectsthesociety).

Doyouknowwhatracismis?

Yes, normally are white person that think badly about people that is more brown or more
black.
th
This answer from a girl (6
grade) shows the general point of view of society regarding
racism.

Doyouthinkmoneybringshappiness?
NoIdontthinkso,butmaybeforpoorpeopleyes.
th
In this case, even the girl(4
grade)herselfthinkthatitmightbedifferentaccordingtheown
economic situationof theperson.So,sinceshelivesina goodsocialcontextwecouldsay,
she has an opinion which could be differently treated in the case she was poor and her
socialenvironmenthadtosurviveinverypoorconditions.

Whatdoyouthinkaboutthepoverty?
I think that we could help poor people more. But I also think that poor people should try to
getajobsomewhere,andtheywillbeabletobepayedforit.
Also, this question like the previous one, it is influenced by the sociocultural aspect as itis
th
answered through a society with welfare. Through this girls answer (4
grade) we realize

that she does not consider herself to be poor and that she might have seen poor people in
hernearcontextwhodoesnothavejobandconsequently,heorshedoesnotearnmoney.

Some individual differences can be observed among children. For example, the level of
knowledge they have, the way they write, how they express a concept(iftheyexplain itina
simplisticwayoronthecontrary,theydoitquitecomplex).

Tohavesomeexamplesoftheseaspects:
1) Whatisfriendshipforyou?
Tohavefriends.Likemeandmyfriendswhenwetalkaboutthethingswelike.

2) Whatisfriendshipforyou?
Friendship is to play with someone, to talk with someone and to be generous with
them.Andforexamplewhenthereisanewstudentintheschool,gotoplaywithhim.
Ifyouhavefriendshipyoucanalsohaveproblems.

nd
st
In the 2
case,thestudentgoesbeyondtheknowledgeof the1
student.Shedoesnotonly

talk about friendship in an objective way but also thinks about the consequences that can
causehavingfriendships.

3) Whatisfriendshipforyou?

Itisafeelingthatyouhaveforanotherpersonanditisverybeautiful.
rd
Here we can see that the 3
student even give a more complex understanding of

friendshipsinceshetalksaboutitinanemotiveway.
Along the 3 cases we can see an evolution. Apart of having more ability in communication
and the language skills more developed, we can also see that that they gain in abstract
thinkingandtheycanexplainthesameconceptinamorecomplexway.

Finally, doing the interviews has allowed us to be able to observe by firsthand that
improving language skills leads to a more complex way of thinking. Language allows us to
represent and make sense of our experiences and at the same time it shapes the way we
think. So, it is very important to take into account language as we do not promote its
developmentweareneitherpromotingourcognitiveimprovement.

PROBLEMSOLVING

Inthissectionofthework,wehaveaskedtosolveoneproblemtothestudentsfromthe
secondcycleandfromthethirdcycle,whoareeightandelevenyearsold.Wehaventasked
tothestudentfromthefirstcycletodoitbecausethelevelofdifficultywasnotproportional
withherage(6yearsold).
Theproblemisaboutreproducingthedrawingofahouse,buttriplicatingitsdimension.The
resultsofthestudentshavebeen:

SECONDCYCLE(girlfrom4thgrade)THIRDCYCLE(boyfromthe6thgrade)

In the first drawing the child read the statementacoupletimesbeforestartingbutinsteadof

using a guide decided to start right away in nude eye proportion. Since she has not
calculated scientifically we can see a more raw stoke that indicates that shes had to redo
the design ofthehouse.Howeverthatdoesntmeanthatshehasnt analyzedandcompared
the sizing of the house in order to make a reproductionofit. Thewindowsandthedoorare
well aligned sowecanseethatifshehadhadmorepracticethistaskwouldhaveresultedin
amoreorderlyway.

In the second drawing the child first read three times the statement of the problem soasto
make sure he understood correctly. Then he proceeded to think of similar situations than
that of the problem. For example in the problem of the house she started counting the
squares with a ruler before actually drawing anything. By doing so he synthesized the
problem into an easier one as he already knew the proportions of the house rather than
doing it by naked eye. Therefore hedidplanandmakedecisionsregardinghowtosolvethe
problemonhisownbyhisownmethods.

They use critical thinking because they have done different models before to arrive to the final
ones, so they have had to judge the others and saythatarenotcorrect becauseitdoesnot
representthetriplethatwasaskedfor.
Theyusecreative thinkingtheprocessweusetodevelop newideasoffurtherelaboration. For
instance, the fourth grade girl has looked for many possible answers before giving the one
that we have put here because she was trying to get the best triple and finally she
considered the best that one. She has make suggestions developing its creative thinking,
moreover, she is drawing and improving its creativity. The sixth grade boy has also done
some proofs before arrive to that model. Nevertheless, he has not done so much proofs as
thefourthgradegirl.
They also use scientific thinking becauseofdoingthetripleandcountingsquares. Thescientific
thinking was easier for the sixth grade boybecausehehadpreviousinformationaboutwhat
was doing the triple. However, the fourth grade girl have had to developed the scientific
thinking more because she has had to imaginewhat itwasdoingthetripleandthinkinghow
shecoulddo,whichrelatedtothecreativethinking.
Furthermore, as they use the creative thinking to use itisalwaysnecessarythecriticalthinking.
Because while you arecreatingyouarejudgingtheimageanddrawing thatyouarecreating
and learning why it is not right and proving how you can achieve the right, with a different
methodoradifferentperception.
To sum up, they haveusedthescientific,criticalandcreativethinkingthescientific onetoknow
how to solveit,thecreativefor drawingandthestrategiesthattheycoulduseandthecritical
tojudgeifthetriplewasbeingdonecorrectlyornot.

In drawing number one she didnt follow all the steps but determined the nature of the
problem and selectthecomponentsofthe appropriateperformancetosolvetheproblemlike
the strategies and methods she would use. Regardless of the result she select a strategy
that was present in the procedure such as the proportion and the stroke. Given that she is

attending fourth grade is no wonder she did this way as they still have to learn about
techniques for proportion not solely nude eye reproduction. The feedback she received
madeherredothedesignanddoitaccordinglysoastoimproveferperformanceofthetask.

In the second one he followed some of the steps, as for example he followed the one of
determining the nature of the problem and selecting the components of the appropriate
performance to solve the problem like the strategies and methods he would use. He also
selected a strategy and added it tohisperformanceaswellasusedtherelevantinformation
to solve it in as little time as possible butstilldiditathispeaceandnotrushed.However he
didnt monitor his performance as it was not a school task he didnt consider itasimportant
but more like a game, whether the problems were right or not did not change their
performance nor changed how he decided to act. He did like being praised for what he did
rightsoitcouldbeconsideredinterpretingfeedbackaboutefficacyoftheirefforts

In drawing number one we can see a try not as clear andpolishedthanthesecondonebut

nevertheless an accomplished exercise. Astheresultisnotpolished wecannotconsiderita
complete success because it still has a long way to go to reach the level of the second
drawing . This happened because the girl is still inexperienced about proportion and is still
young. The ages in this case influenced a lot because drawing number two is clear, has a
good stroke and notion of proportion and measure and was not asrushedthanthefirstone
that is more matter of fact than matter of reasoning. Therefore we would consider it neither
fail nor succeed, as they simply did what they thought was right according to their ages,no
morenoless

The perception, attention and memory are very important duringalltheprocessbecauseinthat

waychildrenareabletocreatetheirownlanguagetoexpresstheresultsoftheprocess.
Analysing thethreeconceptsweknowthatperceptionisformedby threesteps.First ofall,there
isaninformationorganization,thenthechildhastointerprettheinformationandthelaststep
is the representation. To pay attention is also important to select the information that has
already beenperceivedandtrying toselecttheinformationthatisusefulforthattaskandthe
one that is not.Moreover,iftheypayattentiontheylearnfasterandtheyhavethesolutionof
the problem with an efficient and economic perception. Therefore, if they pay attention
probably they will get the solution faster and better because they will be focus on the

problem and also they will memorize easily. Because if you only have one source of
information,yourcognitiveskillscanfocusonthesolvingofit.
Related to the memory therearethreesteps:codification, storageandretrieval.Thecodification
it happens when the information is registred in the memory, the storage is the action of
maintaining material in the memory and the retrieval is the localization of the storage
material. In the problem solving, both are using the procedural memory which is motor and
executiveskillsneededtoundertakeatask.
In that way, due to the perception, attention and memory there is a thinking process where
children is thinking about the correct answer to the problem. Finally, he or she solves the
problem with their scientific and critical thinking. In our cases, thegirlfromthesecondcycle
has not done well the draw of the house because probably its perception has failed butthe
girl of sixth grade has done correctly the problem. Both has followed the same cognitive
steps for solving a problem but here the difference is the information and experience that
they had before the problem. For that reason,theoldestboy knowshowtodotheproblem
due to its previous knowledge but the fourth grade girl does not knowhowtosolveit,even
sotheperception,memoryandattention.
In conclusion, doing all the steps correctly means that you can achieve the result easily and
right,howeverthepreviousknowledgeisalsoveryrelevanttogettothecorrectconclusion.

Experience has affected the result because probably the sixth grade boy has done a similar
tasks in the school, so it was not so difficult the task to him because he has already
information in its brain of how to do it easily, counting squares. While the fourth grade girl
does not know this resource that makes the problem easier, so she was doing it for
perception.
Knowledge is very related with the experience, because you learn through your past
experiences. In that problem knowing the easiest method (through squares) and what is
doing three times an image makes it the problem easier that if you do know exactlywhatis
doingthetriple.
The motivationisalso veryimportantbecausethroughmotivationyoucanachievewhateveryou
want and it is easily to understand and learn the problems and howcanbesolve.Ifyouget
motivated insomethingyoupayallyourattentionon itandyoutrytosolveitright becauseof
your motivation and you want to know the right answer of a problem that is interesting for
yourself. Therefore, if you are motivated you look more for the previous knowledge and

information that you already have and you search formethodsandcreateeasieststrategies

forsolvingit.
For all that reasons, the experiences, knowledges and motivation are very important to solve a
probleminabetterwayandeasily.

Both kids have the same cultural background as the system they areimmersed insointhis
aspect there should not be any difficulties. They both belong to middle class families,
however the fact that 6th grade boys mother is a primary teacher which uses to help him,
might have increased the possibilities of this answers to be correct as he had a solid base
beside him that makes him more accessible to knowledge and resources such as grids,
textbooks, immediate feedback etc. The girl from the 4th grade has done it by herself no
external influences until the very end and we can see a greater amount of effort in redoing
again the drawing, giving it another try to make it better and thatispartofthesociocultural
aspectswhichrevolvearoundthechild.

We have also observed some individual differences among them. First of all, the way of
organising and thinking about how they will represent the triplicated house. On the second
cycles case we seehowsheimmediatelystartedtodrawthelines,andshedidwrongsome
of them, so she decided to cross them out. And on the other hand, we can observe on the
image how the third cycle boy first counted the squares needed to do the triplication and
madeanschemewiththepencilbeforetostartdrawingthedefinitivehouse.