The importance of teaching problem-solving behavior in the elementary school classroom has been emphasized by many researchers. Suchman (1) and Bishop and Donovan (2) found that the problem-solving method encouraged maximum student involvement, made concepts more meaningful and increased retention.Walbesser and Carter (3) and Fowler (4) investigated particularly the problem-solving abilities of children from low socio-economic level (SEL) backgrounds. They found that these children were less effective than higher SEL children in classifying and conceptualizing activities and were quite restricted in their knowledge of simple facts. It was concluded that low SEL children needed more activities involving manipulation of materials which were within their environmental experience. Such a manipulation formed a realistic basis for their science instruction.A number of authors (Thorndike (5), Kohler (6), Morgan (7), and Piaget (8)) used various types of direct-observational methods on humans and animals to infer the manner in which a problem was solved. Several studies (Duncher and Krechevsky (9), Bloom and Broder (10), Gagne (11), and Duncan (12)) asked humans to verbalize their strategy used in solving problems. However, in spite of the efforts of these researchers, there is still a need for a better understanding of the internal problem-solving process according to Keislar, (13). PURPOSEIn order to gain additional insight into the strategies employed by students involved in the problem-solving process, a study was conducted employing video tape equipment as a data gathering device. The purpose of this project was to investigate what differences socio-economic level and sex made in the development of strategies for attacking a scientific problem involving simple machines. SAMPLEThe subjects for this project were selected from one school located in a high socio-economic area and from two schools located in a low socio-economic area in a large midwestern industrial city. In 398

No abstract