| An insight problem is a problem that requires the
examinee to shift his or her perceptive and view the
problem in a novel way in order to achieve the solution. There
are several types of insight problems.
The three predominant
types are verbal, mathematical, and spatial (Dow & Mayer 2003).
.Verbal:
Marsha and Marjorie were born on the same day of the same
month of the same year to the same mother and the same father
yet they are not twins. How is that possible?
Mathematical:
There are ten bags, each containing ten
gold coins, all of which look identical. In nine of the bags each
coin is 16-ounces, but in one of the bags the coins are
actually 17-ounces each. How is it possible, in a single weighing on an accurate weighing scale, to determine which bag
contains the 17-ounce coins
Spatial
Draw four continuous
straight lines, connecting all the dots without lifting your pencil from the
paper.
Insight problems are scores 1
point for correct and 0 for incorrect. On the rare
occasion an examinee might create a correct solution that is
different from the scoring key (see below, "Other", for complete
list of insight problems and solutions), give credit.
Dow,
G.T. & Mayer, R.E. (2004). Teaching students to solve insight
problems. Evidence for domain specificity in training. Creativity Research Journal, 16,4 389-402
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