Creative Solutions and their Evaluation: Comparing the Effects of Explanation and Argumentation Tasks on Student Reflections

Main Article Content

Andria Andiliou
Pricilla Karen Murphy

Abstract

Creative problem solving which results in novel and effective ideas or products is most advanced when learners can analyze, evaluate, and refine their ideas to improve creative solutions.  The purpose of this investigation was to examine creative problem solving performance in undergraduate students and determine the tasks that support critical self-evaluations of creative solutions by comparing alternative types of reflective tasks. Participants (n = 103) first provided demographic information and responded to individual difference measures (i.e., divergent thinking, need for cognition, and beliefs about creative outcomes) and then read a problem scenario in which they assumed the role of a high school teacher who was asked to design a creative college preparatory course.  Following, participants completed either an explanation reflective task or an argument based reflective task.  Finally, participants evaluated their proposed course by rating it on characteristics that describe the originality and effectiveness of creative solutions. Findings confirmed the role of divergent thinking as a positive predictor of the originality of a creative solution, whereas, need for cognition, and academic major were positive predictors of the effectiveness of a creative solution.  Participants rated their creative solutions differentially depending on their beliefs and the type of reflective task.  Those whose beliefs aligned better with conceptualizations of creative outcomes assessed more positively the originality and effectiveness of their solution.  The findings indicate that the argumentation task could potentially promote reflective and critical thinking about a creative solution as participants who completed the argumentation task evaluated their solution more conservatively.

Article Details

How to Cite
Andiliou, A., & Murphy, P. K. (2014). Creative Solutions and their Evaluation: Comparing the Effects of Explanation and Argumentation Tasks on Student Reflections. Frontline Learning Research, 2(3), 92–114. https://doi.org/10.14786/flr.v2i2.87
Section
Articles
Author Biographies

Andria Andiliou, Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture

Andria Andiliou is a PhD graduate in Educational Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University. Her research interests include the role of teacher and student beliefs in teaching, learning, and the importance and development of higher order thinking including conceptual change and creativity. She has served as an instructional and assessment consultant at the Schreyer Institute of Teaching Excellence conducting graduate student and faculty professional development and holds a special interest in the process of designing and evaluating teaching and research e-portfolios. She returned to the teaching position she held before earning her doctorate and she is currently applying for positions in higher education institutions.

Pricilla Karen Murphy, Professor of Education Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling and Special Education The Pennsylvania State University

Dr. Murphy holds appointments in the Department of Educational and School Psychology and Special Education and the Children, Youth, and Families Consortium and is Co-Director of the Center for Educational and Developmental Sciences. Her research focuses on the role of students' knowledge and beliefs in the comprehension of oral and written language. Specifically, Dr. Murphy's research involves the investigation of processes underlying students' abilities to read and understand a text, to critically examine and evaluate the information presented, and to make reasoned judgments as a result of reading. Her ongoing projects involve the use of classroom discussions to promote critical-analytic thinking and reasoning in classrooms. She is an outgoing Associate Editor of Learning and Instruction, Europe's flagship educational research journal, serves on several other editorial boards, and has authored or co-authored numerous publications in outlets like the Journal of Educational Psychology, Contemporary Educational Psychology, and the Educational Researcher.

References

Anderson, L.W., & Krathwohl, D.R. (Eds.). (2001). A taxonomy of learning, teaching, and assessment: A revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. New York: Longman.
Andriessen, J. (2006). Arguing to Learn. In: K. Sawyer (Ed.) Handbook of the Learning Sciences (pp.443-459). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Andiliou, A. & Murphy, P. K. (2010). Examining variations among researchers’ and teachers’ conceptualizations of creativity: A review and synthesis of contemporary research, Educational Research Review, 4(3), 201-219.
Antiliou, A. (2012). The effect of an argumentation diagram on the self-evaluation of a creative solution. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
Basadur, M., Runco, M. A., & Vega, L. A. (2000). Understanding how creative thinking skills, attitudes and behaviors work together: A causal process model. Journal of Creative Behavior, 34(2), 77-100.
Butler, A. B., Scherer, L. L., & Reiter-Palmon, R. (2003). Effects of solution elicitation aids and need for cognition on the generation of solutions to ill-structured problems. Creativity Research Journal, 15(2-3), 235-244. Doi:10.1207/S15326934CRJ152&3_13.
Byrne, C. L., Shipman, A. S., & Mumford, M. D. (2010). The effects of forecasting on creative problem-solving: An experimental study. Creativity Research Journal, 22(2), 119-138.
Cacioppo, J. T., Petty, R. E., & Kao, C. F. (1984). The efficient assessment of need for cognition. Journal of Personality Assessment, 48(3), 306-307.
Chen, C., & Bradshaw, A. C. (2007). The effect of web-based question prompts on scaffolding knowledge integration and ill-structured problem solving. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 39(4), 359-375.
Chi, M.T.H. (2000). Self-explaining expository texts: The dual processes of generating inferences and repairing mental models. In R. Glaser (Ed.), Advances in Instructional Psychology, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Cho, K., & Jonassen, D. H. (2003). The effects of argumentation scaffolds on argumentation and problem solving. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 5-22.
Christensen, P. R., Merrifield, P. R., & Guilford, J. P. (1953). Consequences form A-1. Beverly Hills, CA: Sheridan Supply.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1999) Implications of a Systems Perspective for the Study of Creativity. In R. J. Sternberg, (Ed.), Handbook of creativity (pp. 313-335). New York: NY Cambridge University Press.
Dailey, L.R. & Mumford, M.D. (2006). Evaluative aspects of creative thought: Errors in appraising the implications of new ideas. Creativity Research Journal, 18(3), 367-384.
Diakidoy, I. N., & Constantinou, C. P. (2001). Creativity in physics: Response fluency and task specificity. Creativity Research Journal Special Issue: Commemorating Guilford's 1950 Presidential Address, 13(3-4), 401-410.
Eggen, P. & Kauchak, D. (2010). Educational Psychology: Windows on Classrooms (8th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Education.
Easterday, M.W., Aleven, V., & Scheines, R. (2007). Tis better to construct or to receive? Effect of diagrams on analysis of social policy. In R. Luckin, K. R. Koedinger, & J. Greer (Eds.), Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education (pp. 93-100). Amsterdam: IOS.
Felton, M., & Kuhn, D. (2001). The development of argumentative discourse skill. Discourse Processes, 32(2&3), 135-153.
Ferretti, R. P., MacArthur, C. A., & Dowdy, N. S. (2000). The effects of an elaborated goal on the persuasive writing of students with learning disabilities and their normally achieving peers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 92(4), 694-702.
Fonseca, B. A. & Chi, T. H. (2011). Instruction Based on Self-Explanation. In R. E. Mayer & P. Alexander (Eds.) Handbook of research for learning and instruction. New York, NY: Routledge
Ge, X., Chen, C., & Davis, K. A. (2005). Scaffolding novice instructional designers' problem-solving processes using question prompts in a web-based learning environment. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 33(2), 219-248.
Ge, X., & Land, S. M. (2003). Scaffolding students' problem-solving processes in an ill-structured task using question prompts and peer interactions. Educational Technology Research and Development, 51(1), 21-38. Doi:10.1007/BF02504515.
Goldbrick-Lab, S., Carter F. D., & Wagner, R. W. (2007). What higher education has to say about the transition to college? Teachers College Record, 109(10), 2444-2481.
Hunter, S. T., Bedell-Avers, K. E., Hunsicker, C. M., Mumford, M. D., & Ligon, G. S. (2008). Applying multiple knowledge structures in creative thought: Effects on idea generation and problem-solving. Creativity Research Journal, 20(2), 137-154.
Isaksen, S. G. & Treffinger, D. J. (1985). Creative Problem Solving: The Basic Course, Buffalo, NY: Bearly Limited.
Jonassen, D. H. (1997). Instructional design models for well-structured and ill-structured problem-solving learning outcomes. Educational Technology: Research & Development, 45(1), 65-94.
Jonassen, D.H., & Kim, B. (2010). Arguing to learn and learning to argue: Design justifications and guidelines. Educational Technology: Research & Development, 58, 439-457.
Kim, S. (2001). The effects of group monitoring on transfer of learning in small group discussions. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Kuhn, D. (1991). The skills of argument. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Leitão, S. (2003). Evaluating and selecting counterarguments. Written Communication, 20, 269-306.
Lodewyk, K. R. (2007). Relations among epistemological beliefs, academic achievement, and task performance in secondary school students. Educational Psychology, 27(3), 307-327.
Louie, V. (2007). Who makes the transition to college? Why we should care, what we know and what we need to do. Teachers College Record, 109(10), 2222-2251.
Marttunen, M., & Laurinen, L. (2006). Collaborative learning through argument visualisation in secondary school. In S. N. Hogan (Ed.), Trends in learning research. (pp. 119-138). Hauppauge, NY, US: Nova Science Publishers.
Muis, K. R. (2008). Epistemic profiles and self-regulated learning: Examining relations in the context of mathematics problem solving. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33, 177-208.
Mumford, M.D., & Mobely, M. I., Uhlman, C. E., Reiter-Palmon, R., & Doares, L. M. (1991). Process analytic models of creative thought. Creativity Research Journal, 4, 91-122.
Munneke, L. van Amelsvoort, M., & Andriessen, J., (2003). The role of diagrams in collaborative argumentation-based learning. International Journal of Educational Research, 39, 113-131.
Nair, K. U., & Ramnarayan, S. (2000). Individual differences in need for cognition and complex problem solving. Journal of Research in Personality, 34(3), 305-328.
Newell, G. E., Beach, R., Smith, J., & VanDerHeide, J. (2011). Teaching and learning argumentative reading and writing: A review of research. Reading Research Quarterly, 46(3), 273-304.
Nussbaum, E. M. (2008). Using argumentation vee diagrams (AVDs) for promoting argument-counterargument integration in reflective writing. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100(3), 549-565.
Nussbaum, E. M., & Schraw, G. (2007). Promoting argument-counterargument integration in students’ writing. Journal of Experimental Education, 76, 59-92.
Nussbaum, E. M., & Kardash, C. M. (2005). The effects of goal instructions and text on the generation of counterarguments during writing. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 157-169.
Nussbaum, E. M., & Sinatra, G. M. (2003). Argument and conceptual engagement. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 28, 384-395. Doi:10.1016/S0361-476X(02)00038-3
Oh, S., & Jonassen, D. H. (2007). Scaffolding online argumentation during problem solving. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 23(2), 95-110.
Osburn, H. K., & Mumford, M. D. (2006). Creativity and planning: Training interventions to develop creative problem-solving skills. Creativity Research Journal, 18(2), 173-190.
Pritchard, M. E., Wilson, G., & Yamnitz, B. (2007). What predicts adjustment among college students? A longitudinal panel study. Journal of American College Health, 56(1), 15-21.
Reiter-Palmon, R., Illies, M. Y., Cross, L. K., Buboltz, C., & Nimps, T. (2009). Creativity and domain specificity: The effect of task type on multiple indexes of creative problem-solving. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 3(2), 73-80.
Reiter-Palmon, R., Mumford, M. D., O'Connor Boes, J., & Runco, M. A. (1997). Problem construction and creativity: The role of ability, cue consistency and active processing. Creativity Research Journal, 10(1), 9-23.
Reznitskaya A., Anderson, R. C., McNurlen, B., Nguyen-Jahiel, K., Archondidou, A., & Kim, S. Y. (2001). Influence of oral discussion on written argument. Discourse Processes, 32(2&3), 155-175.
Roe Clark, M. (2005). Negotiation the Freshman Year: Challenges and Strategies Among First-Year College Students. Journal of College Student Development, 46(3), 296.
Runco, M. A., & Chand, I. (1994). Problem finding, evaluative thinking, and creativity. In M. A. Runco (Ed.), Problem finding, problem solving, and creativity. (pp. 40-76). Westport, CT, US: Ablex Publishing.
Scwarz, B. B., Neuman, Y., & Biezuner, S. (2000). Two wrongs may make a right ...if they argue together! Cognition and Instruction, 18(4), 461-494.
Shin, N., Jonassen, D. H., & McGee, S. (2003). Predictors of well-structured and ill-structured problem solving in an astronomy simulation. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40(1), 6-33.
Suthers, D. D. (2001). Towards a systematic study of representational guidance for collaborative learning discourse. Journal of Universal Computer Science, 7(3), 254–277.
Toulmin, S. E. (1958). The uses of argument. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Uribe, D., Klein, J. D., & Sullivan, H. (2003). The effect of computer-mediated collaborative learning on solving ill-defined problems. Educational Technology Research & Development, 51(1), 5-19.
van Eemeren, F., & Grootendorst, R. (1999). Developments in Argumentation Theory. In J. Andriessen & P. Coirier (Eds.). Foundations of argumentative text processing (pp. 43-57). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Van Eemeren, F. H., & Grootendorst, R. (1992). Argumentation, communication, and fallacies: A pragma-dialectical perspective. Hilisdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Voss, J. F. & Post, T. A. (1988). On the solving of ill-structured problems. In M. T. H. Chi, R. Glaser & M. J. Farr (Eds.), The nature of expertise (pp. 261-285). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawerence Erlbaum Associates.
Voss, J. F., Wolfe, C. R., Lawrence, J. A., & Engle, R. A. (1991). From representation to decision: An analysis of problem solving in international relations. In R. J. Sternberg, & P. A. Frensch (Eds.), Complex problem solving: Principles and mechanisms. (pp. 119-158). Hillsdale, NJ, England: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Voss, T., Kunter, M., & Baumert, J. (2011). Assessing teacher candidates’ general pedagogical and psychological knowledge: Test construction and validation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(4), 952-969.
Walton, D. (2000). The place of dialogue theory in logic, computer science, and communication studies. Synthese, 123, 327-346.
Walton, D. N. (1996). Argumentation schemes for presumptive reasoning. Mahwah, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum Associates.
Weisberg, R. W. (2006). Expertise and reason in creative thinking: Evidence from case studies and the laboratory. In J. C. Kaufman & J. Baser (Eds.) Creativity and Reason in Cognitive Development (pp. 7-42). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Wiley, J., & Voss, J. F. (1999). Constructing arguments from multiple sources: Tasks that promote understanding and not just memory for text. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(2), 301-311.