Children’s Problem Solving on the Discovery of a Principle

This paper presents a modification and extension of Heibreder's study on children's problem solving behavior. 50 Ss were chosen for the studies on developmental effect and experimentally manipulated effect. The results showed that there were many items reflecting the age differences. Age groups beyond 5 1/2 years old showed markedly superiority in problem-solving behavior. The group of 7 1/2 – 8 1/2 years old can even compete with adults in some aspects, such as: giving many various kinds of reasons, using generalization to solve problem, etc. The presentation order of problems had effects on children's giving reasons for their choice of answers in problem solving situations, Cultural differences bad effects in later development also.