A Mixed Methods Study on Maintaining Problem Solving through Directed Thinking: Implementation and Outcome

Abstract

The development and growth of human life may require the individual’s ability to solve real life problems. This ability may be ambiguous when it comes to solving difficult and complex problems due to its neglection by traditional problem-solving research in educational psychology. Thinking skills and problem solving ability are very helpful to instruct learners how to solve complex problems and make decisions in the classroom. This study aimed to describe how learners can solve problems through directed thinking in understanding a literary text. Using a quasi-experiment, this study adapts a sample which consists of twenty subjects at Higher College of Teachers of Laghouat who are assigned into two groups for giving one group more treatment than the other. The results revealed that thinking skills of students are effective as they serve as part of the pedagogical interest of most of the subjects who received the treatment methodology in class; also, they pursued more enthusiasm and positive attitudes towards improving their high order thinking skills to solve problems.