Identifying competent problem posers and exploring their characteristics

In a study involving 66 masters and 60 sixth-grade students, we conducted Principal Component Analysis to identify more-and-less competent problem posers based on performance criteria rather than, as in prior research, relying on participants’ mathematical experience or background. Also, to cast light on characteristics of competent posers, we explored possible patterns in the problem-posing process based on the two identified groups’ self-reports and eye-movements. The results showed that: masters students had a significantly lower proportion of the more-competent group and a higher proportion of the less-competent group than sixth graders; more-competent posers perceived a better understanding of the problem-posing tasks than less-competent posers; more-competent posers exhibited significantly more fixation time on completing the entire problem-posing activities than less-competent posers, though this pattern disappeared across particular stages of the problem-posing process; and more-competent posers appeared to engage in a more purposeful search and processing to construct their problems than less-competent posers.