Process Analysis of Planning in Grade 4 and Grade 8 Students

Process Analysis of Planning in Grade 4 and Grade 8 Students

This article presents a study that used both product (accuracy and performance time) and protocol data (think aloud protocols) to study how children solved a complex and knowledge-lean Crack-the-Code task. Participants were 8 children from two different grade levels (4 and 8; N=4 in both). Between group comparisons in product measures showed that older participants solved more items correctly, took longer time to produce their answers, and verbalized more while completing the items. Protocol data indicated that while Grade 4 participants approached all items in a similar and rather unreflective manner, Grade 8 participants adjusted their performances to the increasing level of difficulty by adding more components to their planning approach. Educational implications of the results are discussed together with the use of the Crack-the-Code task and verbal protocols for detecting both general trends and individual differences in children's planning.