Instructors� Beliefs and Values about Learning Problem Solving

Abstract

This paper presents preliminary hypotheses about a common core of faculty beliefs about how their students learn to solve problems in their introductory courses. Using a process of structured interviews and a concept map based analysis, we find that faculty appear to believe that students learn problem solving primarily through a process of reflective introspection (educators call this process metacognition) while they practice solving problems and getting assistance from example problem solutions.