Biomedical subjects

Laura E Hardin

Publications and source records attributed to Laura E Hardin.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Problem-solving concepts and theories.

Many educators, especially those involved in professional curricula, are interested in problem solving and in how to support students' development into successful problem solvers. The following article serves as an overview of educational research on problem solving. Several concepts are defined and the transition from one theory to another is discussed. Educational theories describing problem solving in the context of behavioral, cognitive, and information-processing pedagogy are discussed. The final section of the article describes prior findings regarding expert-novice differences in problem solving of various kinds.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Research in medical problem solving: a review.

This article is a review of problem-solving models that have been studied in the medical domain. These models seek to describe and evaluate the cognitive processes activated in problem solving in the medical domain and to use this knowledge to further evaluate expert-novice differences. The principle models discussed are the hypothetico-deductive, illness scripts, and the probabilistic. After reviewing these problem-solving models, the reasoning strategies identified in medical problem solving will be discussed. These strategies, forward-backward and broad-narrow, are analyzed as indicators of expert versus novice problem solving in the medical domain. Finally, the methods identified for studying medical problem solving-simulated patients, stimulated recall, think-aloud protocol, and the Pathfinder algorithm-will be discussed.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Cognitive processes of second-year veterinary students in clinical case resolution.

Researchers have established a general understanding of the cognitive processes of individuals and have identified expert and novice problem-solving differences. This study was directed towards an evaluation of the problem-solving abilities of a cohort of students completing their second year of veterinary study in a primarily lecture-based curriculum. Problem-solving abilities were evaluated by analysis of an audiotaped think aloud of students resolving a clinical case that was progressively disclosed. Transcripts of the articulated thoughts were analyzed using a novel taxonomy to understand the problem-solving process used by the students. Although all students were at the same level of training, a variety of problem-solving strategies were identified. Comparison to prior research revealed that the students exhibited characteristics consistent with novice problem solvers when faced with ill-defined problems, though no single, consistent pattern was evident.

Adult↗