Problem solving in Science : a case study of Year 7 Students’ attitudes, collaboration and solutions

Abstract

This case study explored Year 7 students’ attitudes to science, problem solving and collaborative problem solving. It further looked into possible relations between the students’ attitudes, self-efficacy and success in solving science based problems, and whether there were differences in solutions when students worked individually and collaboratively.

The participants were the researcher’s Year 7 mixed achievement male students during scholastic year 2017-2018. In the researcher’s attempt to obtain a holistic picture of the students’ attitudes and self-efficacy, a non-anonymous questionnaire, together with researcher’s observations and field notes, students’ discourse, behaviour, and self-reflections of four collaborative problem solving lessons, and group interview were used. The attitudes of four students having different attitudes and achievement levels were compared to their individual and collaborative problem solving processes and solutions. These data were also used to analyse the differences that some students had between their individual and collaborative solutions.

It was found that most students at Year 7 had positive attitudes towards science, problem solving and collaborative problem solving. Problems’ type and utility value, students’ achievement level and teacher’s scaffolding had an impact on the students’ engagement, collaborative problem solving process, and problems’ solutions. All students despite their attitudinal dispositions benefitted from the collaborative problem solving process.