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Help-seeking behavior in a problem-solving situation: Development of self-regulation

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Abstract

The development of self-regulation in school-aged children's help-seeking behavior was studied in a Vygotskian framework. It was hypothesized that studying pupils of two different ages would make it possible to define two levels reached by the children in their capacity to take charge of their help-seeking behavior. When placed in a problem-solving situation, children (80 2nd-graders and 87 4th-graders) had the opportunity to seek help from the experimenter, if needed. Three self-regulation aspects were evaluated: (1) awareness of the need for help, (2) capacity to restrict questions to what is necessary, and (3) ability to re-use received help in analogous tasks. The results showed that the level of self-regulation depended on both age and academic achievement; only high-achieving 4th-graders exhibited advanced capacities of self-regulation.

Résumé

L'objectif de la présente recherche était d'étudier, dans une perspective vygotskienne, le développement de l'autorégulation dans les conduites de questionnement chez des enfants d'âge scolaire. On s'attendait à ce qu'en étudiant des élèves de deux âges différents, on puisse définir deux niveaux atteints par les enfants, dans leur capacité de prendre en charge les conduites de questionnement. Les enfants (80 élèves de CE1 et 87 élèves de CM1), placés dans une situation de résolution de problèmes, avaient la possibilité de questionner l'expérimentateur s'ils l'estimaient nécessaire. Trois aspects d'autorégulation ont été évalués: (1) prise du conscience du besoin d'aide, (2) capacité de restreindre les demandes à celles juste nécessaires et (3) capacité de réinvestir l'aide reçue dans des exercices analogues. Les résultats ont montré que le niveau de la prise en charge interne de la capacité de questionnement était lié à la fois à l'âge et au niveau scolaire des enfants; seuls faisaient preuve d'une régulation achevée de leurs conduites de questionnement, les meilleurs élèves de CM1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Paris 5, France

    Minna Puustinen

  2. University of Jyväskylä, Finland

    Minna Puustinen

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  1. Minna Puustinen
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This research was supported by the Academy of Finland. I am thankful to Fayda Winnykamen, Marie-Hélène Plumet, and Lea Pulkkinen, for their valuable comments, and to Ari Mäkiaho for his help with the statistical analyses.

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Puustinen, M. Help-seeking behavior in a problem-solving situation: Development of self-regulation. Eur J Psychol Educ 13, 271–282 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173093

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