Quo vadis CPS? Brief answers to big questions

Research on complex problem solving (CPS) has reached a stage where certain standards have been achieved, whereas the future development is quite ambiguous. In this situation, the editors of the Journal of Dynamic Decision Making asked a number of representative authors to share their point of view with respect to seven questions about the relevance of (complex) problem solving as a research area, about the contribution of laboratory-based CPS research to solving real life problems, about the roles of knowledge, strategies, and intuition in CPS, and about the existence of expertise in CPS

Executive functions in birds

Executive functions comprise of top-down cognitive processes that exert control over information processing, from acquiring information to issuing a behavioral response. These cogni- tive processes of inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility underpin complex cognitive skills, such as episodic memory and planning, which have been repeatedly investigated in several bird species in recent decades. Until recently, avian executive functions were studied in relatively few bird species but have gained traction in comparative cognitive research following MacLean and colleagues’ large-scale study from 2014. Therefore, in this review paper, the relevant previous findings are collected and organized to facilitate further investigations of these core cognitive processes in birds. This review can assist in integrating findings from avian and mammalian cognitive research and further the current understanding of executive functions’ significance and evolution

The Process of Solving Complex Problems

This article is about Complex Problem Solving (CPS), its history in a variety of research domains (e.g., human problem solving, expertise, decision making, and intelligence), a formal definition and a process theory of CPS applicable to the interdisciplinary field. CPS is portrayed as (a) knowledge acquisition and (b) knowledge application concerning the goal-oriented control of systems that contain many highly interrelated elements (i.e., complex systems). The impact of implicit and explicit knowledge as well as systematic strategy selection on the solution process are discussed, emphasizing the importance of (1) information generation (due to the initial intransparency of the situation), (2) information reduction (due to the overcharging complexity of the problem’s structure), (3) model building (due to the interconnectedness of the variables), (4) dynamic decision making (due to the eigendynamics of the system), and (5) evaluation (due to many, interfering and/or ill-defined goals)

20 years of interactive tasks in large‐scale assessments: Process data as a way towards sustainable change?

Background Over the last 20 years, educational large-scale assessments have undergone dramatic changes moving away from simple paper-pencil assessments to innovative, technology-based assessments. This comprehensive switch has led to some rather technical improvements such as identifying early guessing or improving standardization. Objectives At the same time, process data on student interaction with items has been shown to carry value for obtaining, reporting, and interpreting additional results on student skills in international comparisons. In fact, on the basis of innovative simulated assessment environments, news about student rankings, under- and overperforming countries, and novel ideas on how to improve educational systems are prominently featured in the media. At the same time, few of these efforts have been used in a sustainable way to create new knowledge (i.e., on a scientific level), to improve learning and instruction (i.e., on a practical level), and to provide actionable advice to political stakeholders (i.e., on a policy level). Methods This paper will adopt a meta-perspective and discuss recent and current developments with a focus on these three perspectives. There will be a particular emphasis on new assessment environments that have been recently employed in large-scale assessments. Results and Conclusions Most findings remain very task specific. We propose a necessary steps that need to be taken in order to yield sustainable change from analysing process data on all three levels. Implications New technologies might be capable of contributing to the research-policy-practitioner gap when it comes to utilizing the results from large-scale assessments to increase the quality of education around the globe but this will require a more systematic approach towards researching them