The Transitory Phase to the Attainment of Self-Regulatory Skill in Mathematical Problem Solving.

Three phases of development of self-regulatory skill in the domain of mathematical problem solving were designed to examine students' behaviour and the effects on their problem solving ability. Forty-eight Grade 4 students (10 year olds) participated in this pilot study. The students were randomly assigned to one of three groups, each representing a different developmental level of self-regulatory skill: (a) the observation level, (b) the emulation level and (c) the self-control level. The first findings advocate that novices and medium solvers performed better in cooperative than in traditional environments in contrast with experts. Moreover, the first findings advocate that learning environments which provide peer modelling may contribute to the development of self-regulatory skills in medium problem solvers.

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