Children Solving Problems

by Thornton, Stephanie

• ISBN13: 9780674116245
• ISBN10: 0674116240
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-08-01
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

Problem-solving skills evolve through experience and dynamic interaction with a problem. But equally important--as the Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky proposed--is social interaction. Successful problem-solving is a social process. Sharing problem-solving tasks--with skilled adults and with other children--is vital to a child's growth in expertise and confidence. In problem-solving, confidence can be more important than skill. In a real sense, problem-solving lies at the heart of what we mean by intelligence. The ability to identify a goal, to work out how to achieve it, and to carry out that plan is the essence of every intelligent activity. Could it be, Thornton suggests, that problem-solving processes provide the fundamental machinery for cognitive development? In Children Solving Problems she synthesizes the dramatic insights and findings of post-Piagetian research and sets the agenda for the next stage in understanding the varied phenomena of children's problem-solving.

Author Biography

Stephanie Thornton is Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Sussex.

Table of Contents

Why Children's Problem-Solving Is Interesting

A Historical Perspective on Children's Problem-Solving: Inference and the Development of Logic

Conceptual Tools for Solving Problems: Inherent Skills and Information

Working through a Problem and Discovering New Strategies

The Social Context of Children's Problem-Solving

Conclusions

Notes

Suggested Reading

Credits

Index

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