Research Symposium

BIO

Started FSU Fall 2021 with an interest in psychology, a goal to graduate in 3 years, and a plan to get into a PhD program. I am currently in my second year and on track. My current interests for programs are human factors or industrial organizational psychology. I'm a bit of a numbers person, that's part of the reason I took on a statistics minor, the other part is admittedly because it looks great for grad school. I plan to continue participating in research throughout the rest of my undergrad. I am very active on campus as a residents assistant, an active member of the ASLC, and a future peer instructor.

Exploring How Practical Flexibility is Correlated with Procedural Knowledge in Linear Equations

Abstract

This project is meant to explore the role of practical flexibility in problem solving cognition, specifically concerning basic linear equations. This is important to understand how people solve logic problems, and what factors predict success. Within this study we hypothesize that practical flexibility is correlated with procedural knowledge. This study’s research method has participants solve a set of algebra linear equations without any direction, then in a second section solve a different yet similar set of equations but this time using the innovative strategy outlined in the problem instructions. In the results, for the first problem set participants ability to pick the most efficient strategy was evaluated. This was coded as a 1 point for every time they use the efficient strategy. For the second problem set, the participants’ ability to execute an innovative strategy by correctly solving the problem was evaluated. For practical flexibility to be correlated with procedural knowledge, an individual’s ability to pick the best strategy should be correlated with their ability to successfully execute the innovative problem-solving strategy. This data is preliminary, and there are plans to continue collecting data into the future to better understand how practical flexibility and procedural knowledge relate to each other, and problem solving.

Keywords: Psychology Math Cognition