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Decision making: Influence of features and presentation mode upon generation of alternatives
Journal of Research in Science Teaching
Abstract
Decision making can be defined as the process of making reasoned choices among alternatives based upon judgments consistent with the values of the decision maker. Models describing decision making generally include: identification of the problem, collection of relevant information, generation of alternatives, identification of consequences of alternatives, and selection of alternatives. This research focuses on the ability of children to generate alternatives in decision-making tasks. The problem was to determine the differential effects of the number of features of a decision-making situation in interview and computer-simulation modes on the number of alternatives children generate. The study involved 208 children with equal numbers of 2nd and 4th grade boys and girls. Each child responded to three decision-making situations either in an interview or computer-simulation mode. The three situations varied on the number of features of the award objects. An increase in the number of features (color) of the award objects (jelly beans) in a decision-making situation increased the number of alternatives generated. The children in this study generated more alternatives in the interview setting than with the computer simulation.
... In that sense, DM is a learned process. Heath, White, Berlin, and Park (1987) note that there are several arguments for the inclusion of DM skills and their application within school science curricula. However, ...
... there is little research about DM (Eggert & Bogeholz, 2010;Heath et al., 1987) and its relationship to NOS (Bell & Lederman, 2003). ...
... DM prepares students for life in the modern world. Students need to be able to make choices based on a careful examination of actual and affective data, and this has been viewed as vital to maintaining a democratic way of life (Heath et al., 1987). Cassidy and Kurfman (1977) define DM as the making of reasoned choices from among alternatives. ...
The study investigated the relationship of nature of science (NOS) instruction and students' decision-making (DM) related to a controversial socioscientific issue about genetically modified food. Participants were ninth-grade students in four intact sections (two regulars and two honors) in a public high school in the Midwest. All four groups were taught by their regular science teacher. The treatment comprised a four-week unit about genetic engineering. Two groups (one regular and one honors), referred to as comparison groups, received instruction in genetic engineering and how to formulate arguments and make decisions related to this controversial issue. The other two groups (one regular and one honors), referred to as treatment groups, received instruction in genetic engineering and how to apply NOS aspects as they formulate arguments and make decisions in relation to this controversial issue. Chi-square analyses showed significant differences between the comparison and the treatment groups in relation to the understandings of four NOS aspects. There were no differences in their decisions, but there were differences in their DM factors in the context of the controversial socioscientific issue about genetically modified food. These results are discussed in light of the relationship between students' understandings of NOS and their DM related to controversial socioscientific issues.
... Tabla 1. Sistema de análisis de las operaciones implicadas en la toma de decisiones (Heath, White, Berlin y Park, 1987). ...
... De manera general, los datos muestran que el profesorado en formación inicial (PF) identifica un bajo número de operaciones a realizar ante la resolución de una problemática sociocientífica. Esto se pone de manifiesto dado que 47 de ellos consideran que se deberían ejecutar dos o tres operaciones en sus planteamientos, 13 propone la realización de cuatro y solamente uno de ellos recoge en sus respuestas las cinco operaciones que podríamos considerar deseables de llevar a cabo ante una toma de decisiones (Heath, White, Berlin y Park, 1987). ...
Con este trabajo se pretende dar a conocer las concepciones preliminares de maestros en formación inicial acerca de las operaciones y destrezas necesarias para tomar decisiones sobre una problemática sociocientífica relacionada con la energía eléctrica. Los participantes son 72 estudiantes universitarios de Educación Primaria matriculados en una asignatura semestral de Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales. Los resultados revelan las dificultades de los maestros en formación para identificar destrezas requeridas en la toma de decisiones, tales como las comunicativas (e. j. puesta en común de resultados) o las de investigación (e. j. formulación de cuestiones que permitan obtener la información deseada). Por otro lado, en el proceso de toma de decisiones, son escasos los participantes que establecen alguna operación relacionada con la evaluación de las decisiones tomadas. Además, los participantes conciben el proceso para resolver el problema sociocientífico como cerrado, no sujeto a revisión. De los resultados se extrae la necesidad de abordar estas cuestiones en conjunto con la Naturaleza de la Ciencia, con el propósito de mejorar las concepciones y desempeños de los participantes en los procesos de toma de decisiones.
... Decision can simply be defined as selecting one of the alternatives; however, the decision itself is not a big part of DM-it is just a bit of it (Daft, 2003, p.272). In fact, DM is a process of making reasoned choices among alternatives based upon judgments consistent with the values of the decision maker (Heath et al., 1987), and educators classified it as a life skill (Zoller, 1990; Ministry of National Education [MNE], 2018). ...
The paper reports a qualitative study to reveal how preservice science teachers' decision making (DM) processes on socioscientific issue (SSI) in a referendum case compare between unsophisticated (Group U) and sophisticated (Group S) views in terms of nature of science (NOS) understandings. Firstly, pre-study was conducted with focus group interviews with pre-service science teachers. With the findings, one-on-one semi-structured in-depth interviews of the main study for DM on SSI, the artificial meat was developed. In the main study, 12 participants’ responses were analyzed, and a new DM model named the Fractal Model of DM which reflects real-life situation DM process, especially referendum case, was constructed. In DM, NOS lens usages of five NOS aspects about creativity and imagination, observation and inference, empirical-basis, subjectivity, and social and cultural embeddedness and 23 other lens usages such as animal rights (morality), economic, and risk factor were detected and explained through the fractal model. Findings showed that there is a hidden and complex effect of NOS understandings about tentativeness of scientific knowledge on DM. With multiple lens usage, each participant had multi-perspective considerations in DM. While Group S used NOS lenses mainly parallel with their NOS understandings, Group U used them in a more complicated way.
... In other words, making informed decisions is accredited as an essential ability to negotiate SSIs. In decision-making process, individuals make rational choices among alternatives based upon judgments consistent with their values (Heath, White, Berlin and Park, 1987). The rationale and conclusions that individuals put forward while making a decision on SSIs is of importance in their evaluation of the issue and reaching a final decision. ...
In this study, Q methodology was used to explore science teachers’ socioscientific decision-making. In Q methodology, participants are presented with a number of statements about a topic and are asked to sort these statements according to a guideline. The methodology allows researchers identify more information about participants’ decision-making by putting them at the center of analysis. The participants of the study consisted of 8 science teachers (5 females, 3 males), who were asked to sort a number of 22 statements about socioscientific issues; and as they completed their sorting, they were interviewed. Findings revealed two distinct perspectives that science teachers had about socioscientific decision-making: (i) traditional and (ii) universal. Even though all science teachers were aware of the value and importance of environment and human health, their perspectives differed in the subject areas of science, policy and sociology/culture, and in the intellectual baggage of experience and value.
... Since morality cannot be independent of value, morality, which has been put into practice, plays an important role in guiding these values in the decision-making process (Aikenhead, 1985). Hence, decision-making is defined as reasoning choices among alternatives based on judgments consistent (Heath, White, Berlin, & Park, 1987). In other words, decisionmaking is justification of the choice among other alternatives. ...
Metacognition is an invaluable agent in ethical decision-making process. This is because it gives individuals the opportunity to switch gears through the monitoring and control of thinking in solving complex ethical dilemmas. It can be said that the importance of studies evaluating the decision-making process from a moral point of view increases considering the necessity of taking a huge number of decisions in today's complex world. However, studies that measure metacognition as a domain-specific capacity are rarely encountered. The purpose of the present study, then, was to adapt the moral metacognition scale developed in English by McMahon and Good (2016) into Turkish language and to evaluate dimensionality of the scale. The study participants consisted of 302 prospective teachers. This study is a scale adaptation study performed in line with the survey method. The psychometric properties of the instrument have been established by the use of confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to determine the internal consistency of each of the confirmed factors. Data collected from the sample were tested for sampling adequacy. KMO value was found .85 as meritorious and Bartlett test that examines homogeneity of variances was significant. To validate the scale, we ran a four-factor confirmatory factor analysis using chi-square statistic (χ2/df = 1.33; RMSEA=0.045; SRMR=0.063; RMR=0.059; CFI=0.97; GFI=0,89). Given these values, it was seen that scale’s hypothesized measurement model with four factors was consistent with actual data yielding good fit indices. In addition, the overall internal reliability of the scale was found to be .87 and .75, .72, .56, .74 for the dimensions in the scale, respectively. The results showed that the scale met the validity and reliability. In conclusion, Turkish version of the moral metacognition scale provided a valid and reliable measure of moral metacognition across preservice teachers.
... The expectations of socioscientific approach are centralized on the abilities to reflect on problems, which are relevant to social life (Kolsto, 2001;Sadler & Zeidler, 2009;Holbrook & Rannikmae, 2010), according to a careful examination of knowledge (Albe, 2007;Sadler, Chambers, & Zeidler, 2004;Sadler & Donnelly, 2006). These have been viewed as essentials in producing enlightened students who can participate in decision-making about society (Jime´nez-Aleixandre, 2002;Sadler, Barab, & Scott, 2007;Vesterinen, Tolppanen, & Aksela, 2016) and maintain a democratic way of life (Aikenhead, 1985;Heath, White, Berlin, & Park, 1987). Therefore, students need to be provided with appropriate contexts in order to achieve the objectives set above. ...
The common use of questionnaires and qualitative assessments revealed that students experience difficulties in visualising the structural complexity of decision making. Thus, the use of scientific knowledge was disconnected while making a preference. The focus of this research was to explore students’ understanding of the global warming issue using a Persuasive Graphic Organiser (PGO). This research was conducted among 36 students (Grades 7-9) at a school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The developed PGO and interviews were utilised as the primary data collection techniques. Meanwhile, a constant comparative procedure was employed in the qualitative data analysis. Results showed that the use of PGO assisted students’ visualisation in relating three essential understandings of the global warming issue. The students were able to: 1) identify anthropogenic factor affecting global warming; 2) clarify the effects of global warming in health aspect, and 3) provide alternative solutions regarding green technology and daily practices. It was also found that PGO is operationally workable and can be conveniently utilised as a visualisation tool for promoting students’ understanding in socioscientific decision-making.
The purpose of this study was threefold: first, to define requirements of effective student science exchange programs for sustainability; second, to develop a program that meets these requirements; and third, to examine the impact of the program on students’ learning output. A literature review revealed that such exchange programs are most effective when participants are from immediately neighboring countries, because their backgrounds are similar but sufficiently distinct. Thus, in the Japan-Korea Student Science Exchange Program, which began in 2010, students from both countries took joint science lessons throughout the program focused on topics related to sustainability issues. For example, in the 2014–2015 program, the students conducted physics, chemistry, and biology experiments about solar energy and then discussed the advantages and disadvantages of solar energy use in a class conducted entirely in English. Comparing pre- and post-test results suggested that the students’ multifaceted understanding, critical and creative thinking, decision-making, and ability and viewpoints to respond to global society have improved. Additionally, the results of the 2016 follow-up general survey show that current high school students and graduates from both countries expressed a positive attitude toward the program. They also favored the program, agreeing that it aided in their comprehension of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) content and increased their learning output, creativity, and personal growth while also fostering global talent, language learning, career choice, and Japan-Korea relations. These findings indicated that the developed program has achieved its ultimate goal of facilitating students’ partnerships for sustainability.
Generating alternatives for decision problems is a critical activity regularly underestimated and underdeveloped in the decision analysis literature. We present a survey showing how little this topic has been studied in the last 50 years. We then introduce a general framework under which formalize the design of alternatives. Two examples help to understand our point of view: alternatives are generated through separation of attributes describing the value space of the client/decision maker.
"فعالية استخدام نموذج التدريس الواقعي في تنمية فهم القضايا الناتجة عن تفاعل العلم والتكنولوجيا والمجتمع ، والقدرة على اتخاذ القرار حيالها لدى طالبات شعبة الفيزياء والكيمياء ذوات أساليب التفكير المختلفة بكلية التربية للبنات بالرستاق ( سلطنة عمان )". مجلة التربية العلمية ، المجلد الثالث ، العدد الرابع ، ديسمبر ، 2001م .
This article provides a rationale for exploring ways in which science educators can structure learning activities that more accurately reflect the scientific inquiry processes used by practicing research scientists. Science learning activities based on the experiential model are better able to promote student construction of scientific knowledge and provoke students into making the transition from naive to higher-order, scientific ways of thinking. The conclusion is drawn that experiential education strategies will strengthen school science performance, particularly among students from underrepresented groups, and create an increased pool of scientific and technical workers.
Dans cet article nous présentons un cadre théorique pour analyser les activités de résolution de problèmes "papier crayon" issu de la confrontation des recherches menées par deux équipes (Gil Perez D. et Martinez Torregrossa J. en Espagne et Caillot M. et Dumas-Carré A. en France) dans le domaine de la physique.
Le point de départ commun des deux équipes est de considérer que l'échec généralisé des élèves ne peut être imputé seulement (ni principalement) à des caractéristiques ou des lacunes des élèves, mais que la plus grande responsabilité doit être cherchée du côté de la didactique habituelle. Ce qui doit être remis en question de façon prioritaire est la conception même des activités de résolution de problèmes. Cette remise en question de la conception didactique commence par une interrogation sur le concept de problème lui-même. De même, le comportement habituellement retenu comme modèle (celui de l'expert) est remis en question ; le comportement proposé comme modèle est celui du chercheur scientifique.
Analyzes the problem-solving process within counseling by extending a problem-solving model proposed by T. J. D'Zurilla and M. R. Goldfried (1971). It is maintained that the counseling process can be viewed as a problem-solving event, a perspective that may lead researchers into new research problems and greater specificity. Selected research from psychological, industrial, and counseling fields is used to delineate essential problem-solving skills as well as hypotheses regarding techniques to develop such skills. It is concluded that more research is needed to analyze the behavior of successful problem solvers and to determine the most efficacious manner to facilitate problem-solving skills in a counseling context. Several areas of research are suggested in terms of specific problem-solving skills as well as research problems in general. (83 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Selectively reviewed problem-solving theory and research for possible applications in behavior modification. Problem solving was defined as a behavioral process which (a) makes available a variety of response alternatives for dealing with a problematic situation, and (b) increases the probability of selecting the most effective response from among these alternatives. 5 stages of problem solving were identified: (a) general orientation or "set," (b) problem definition and formulation, (c) generation of alternatives, (d) decision making, and (e) verification. Training in problem solving was conceptualized as a form of self-control training, I.e., the individual "learns how to solve problems" and thus discovers for himself the most effective way of responding. General guidelines are presented for clinical application with cases characterized by a deficit in effective behavior and its emotional consequences. (2 P. Ref.)
A seven-step, behaviorally based, decision-making process was taught to 17 children, age 9–10 years. Each child's decision-making ability was measured before and after training, using two audiotaped stories that described problem situations typically encountered in the school or home. The children were asked to identify the problem, generate alternative solutions, think of positive and negative consequences for each solution, and offer a personal value supporting their decision. As compared to a no-treatment control group, the children receiving the decision-making training obtained significantly greater scores on four of five dependent measures. Implications for teaching decision-making as a self-management skill are offered.
This study investigated the degree to which 48 seventh and eighth grade students of different abilities acquired strategic planning knowledge from an intellectual computer game ("Wumpus"). Relationships between ability and student performance with two versions of the game were also investigated. The two versions differed in the structure and explicitness of instructional cues and the form of directions and feedback provided. The purpose of the game (which requires logical reasoning, strategic planning knowledge, and self-regulated learning skills) is to locate and kill a mythical monster while avoiding several hazards that impede safe movement through a warren of 20 interconnected caves. Results showed that more successful students acquired strategic planning knowledge by induction from examples and performed better on transfer tasks. Ability differences were also found. Both ability groups improved performance; in addition, high ability students, regardless of instructional treatment, performed better than less able students on the game and the transfer tasks. Considerations for further investigation of the relationships among learner characteristics and instructional variations in computer learning are discussed. Implications for the use of cognitively engaging software in educational settings are also discussed. (Author/JN)
Discusses the implications of a planning and decision concept, "Ideal Displacement." Cautions administrators that the process by which alternatives are developed, weighted, and selected has a profound impact on the quality of the decision. (MLF)
Presents a general descriptive theory of decision making under stress, which includes a typology of 5 distinctive patterns of coping behavior, including vigilance, hypervigilance, and defensive avoidance. The theory is illustrated with discussions of laboratory experiments, field studies, autobiographical and biographical material, and analyses of managerial and foreign policy decisions. Two analytical models, a schema for decision-making stages and a decisional "balance sheet," are also presented to clarify the theory. (28 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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