Indirect effects of prompting students to find multiple solutions for modelling problems
were identified. For the effects of the treatment on performance, two factors the number of
solutions developed and students’ experience of competence—were found to be crucial.
Prompting multiple solutions increased the number of solutions developed, the number of
solutions developed influenced the experience of competence, and the experience of competence
improved students’ final performance. In addition to comparing, reflecting on, and
discussing multiple solutions (Rittle-Johnson & Star, 2009; Silver et al., 2005), the number
of solutions developed and experience of competence are valuable factors that play roles in
producing the effect that prompting students to find multiple solutions has on students’
performance. We argue that the number of solutions developed during the teaching unit is
important because it indicated the impact of the individual solution activities on students’
learning. Combined with the group and class discussions about the various solutions that
different students found, the activities that we applied with our teaching method had positive
influences on experience of competence and students’ final performance