31.089 - Knowledge Is Not Enough: Problem-Solving Competence and Innovative Skills for Modern Workplaces

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Young adolescents bound for working life as well as workers and employees are faced with increasingly complex workplace demands (Fuller & Unwin 2003; Stenström & Tynjälä 2009). Without any doubt, knowledge is a necessary but not sufficient prerequisite to cope with workplace tasks and problems. But to meet the needs of changing labor markets and workplace requirements, new skills and competences such as flexibility, creativity, critical thinking and especially problem solving as well as group learning are of increasing importance. This results in new challenges for vocational education and training. In this symposium, we will present different ways to measure individual and collaborative problem solving in working contexts and discuss appropriate individual and institutional predictors.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Workplace Learning

Chair

• Susan Seeber, University of Goettingen

Papers

• Collaborative Problem Solving: Coding, Scoring, and Interpretation - Patrick E. Griffin, University of Melbourne

• Dispositional Predictors of Domain-Specific Problem-Solving Competence Measured in Simulated Office Work - Andreas Rausch, University of Bamberg; Kristina Koegler, University Frankfurt am Main; Eveline Wuttke, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University; Juergen Seifried, University of Mannheim; Julia Warwas

• Measuring Commercial Knowledge and Skills in Switzerland - Silja Mentele, University of Zurich; Sarah Forster - Heinzer, University of Zurich; Doreen Holtsch, University of Zurich; Franz Eberle, University of Zurich

• Apprenticeships and Changing Skills Requirements - Petri J. Nokelainen, Tampere University of Technology; Laura Pylväs, University of Tampere; Heta Rintala, University of Tampere

Discussant

• Eveline Wuttke, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University