Predictors of Hands-On Learning: Students’ Problem Approach Attitude, Problem Solving Confidence, and Problem Solving Style Relevant to Parental Monitoring

Abstract

Helicopter parents prevail in this current society, their monitoring practice was assumed to take their children away from many hands-on engagements and affect children's problem solving skills. Accordingly, this study conducted a questionnaire survey to those vocational high school students who had ever experienced project making, and there were 456 effective questionnaires collected for confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results showed that: 1) parental monitoring was negatively correlated to problem solving confidence, problem solving style, and problem approaching attitude. 2) Students' problem solving confidence, problem solving style, and problem approach attitude were positively associated with hands-on learning attitude. The results implied that parents ought to give children more opportunities to behave themselves, so children would have higher foci of hands-on practice which special needed in vocational high school.