Enhancing students' problem solving through diagram use

Abstract

‘Draw a diagram’ is one of the strategies that teachers often suggest to students who are having difficulty with a problem. Diagrams are particularly helpful in novel (non routine) problem solving for three reasons. First, diagrams provide an external sketchpad for ideas where students can represent and connect pieces of information (van Essen & Hamaker, 1990). Second, diagrams facilitate the reorganization of information, and implicit problem information may become explicit on a diagram (Larkin & Simon, 1987). For example, additional relationships within an extended family become evident once a family tree is constructed from known information. Finally, diagrams can help students conceptualise the structure of the problem (van Essen & Hamaker, 1990), and hence, form the basis for a solution. However, despite the value of diagrams in problem solving, many students are reluctant to ‘draw a diagram’ and need to be taught how to draw effective diagrams that represent the problem information.