Analogical Problem Solving Schema Induction Mechanism

Schema induction is the crucial mechanism of analogical problem solving. However, there are lots of disputes about the schema induction of analogical problem solving. Such as: Whether the representation of schema induction is elimitative or conservative; Whether the process of schema induction is automatic or controlled; In the process of schema induction, what is the role of problems' superficial similarity and structural similarity; What is the function of problem solvers' subjective factor in schema induction and analogical problem solving. In order to explore these problems further, this thesis used word problem-which can be solved with different methods-as material. Two factors-superficial similarity and structural similarity of the source problem with target problem, the number of source problems were manipulated to examine the cognitive mechanism of schema induction in analogical problem solving. At the same time participants'matacognitive monitor was examined. Two experiments had been designed to support this research.Experiment 1: This experiment was performed by a 3 (the analogical relation between source problem and target problem, equivalent,similar,isomorphic)×2 (the number of source problem. 1 vs. 3) between subject design, in which a controlled group (no analogical relation between source problem and target problem) was adopted. First participants were asked to learn different source problems and then solve 2 target problems. After these we examined the metacognitive monitor of participants. The analysis of variance showed that the analogical relation of source problem with target problem and the number of source problem with their interaction had siginificant effects on target problem performance. That is to say, under the condition of equivalent and isomorphic, the performance of target problem was high, and with the increase of the number of source problem, the performance of target problem will be better. Under the condition of superficial similarity, the performance of target problem was low, and with the increase of the number of source problem, the performance of target problem will be worse.Experiment 2: When participants learned 3 superficial similarity source problems, their performance was low. In order to examine the factors that caused the negative transfer, compared with the target problems of experiment 1, we asked the participants to solve an isomorphic word problem via think aloud method. The results showed that all participants had different performance on problem information recognition and selecting, problem structure representation, problem solving monitoring consciousness and monitoring strategy. The successful problem solvers had good self-monitoring ability, so they could represent target problem accurately without being misled by superficial similarity of source problem.The main conclusions were as follows:(1) The superficial similarity and structural similarity of source problem and target problem had effects on the process of schema induction and on target problem representation manner. When source problem and target problem had different structure, usually the superficial similarity played a misleading role, so the representation of schema induction was redundant. The acquisition of schema induction was both automatic and controlled. Increasing the number of source problem could activate schema induction automaticly.(2) As a whole, when students learned source problems and solved target problems, their monitoring consciousness and monitoring ability were not enough. However those who successfully solved these problems had good self-monitoring consciousness and monitoring ability without being misled.