Effectiveness of TRIZ Program on Problem Solving skills with an emphasis on the Mediating roles of Critical Thinking and School Belonging

Problem-solving is a valuable skill that can be improved by using a creative problem-solving training program(TRIZ). This concept can have positive academic and non-academic consequences for students and prepare them to face various challenges and problems.

The main aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the TRIZ program on problem-solving skills with an emphasis on the mediating roles of critical thinking and school belonging.

The research design was quasi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test and control group with a follow-up period in which 30 students were selected by the convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. The statistical population of the study included all sixth-grade elementary school girls in District 5 of Tehran in the academic year of 2019-2020. In three phases of pre-test, posttest, and follow-up, the groups answered Ricketts' critical thinking questionnaire, Cassidy-Long Problem-Solving Questionnaire, and students' sense of connectedness with school of Brew, Beatty, and Watt (2004). To analyze the data, the Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes Model was used in the form of partial least squares.

The results showed that the TRIZ program could promote critical thinking and school belonging directly as well as problem-solving skills indirectly. In sum, in the experimental model and follow-up model, path coefficients were identified as significant. The conceptual model of post-test research could explain 51% of the variance of school belonging, 41% of critical thinking variance as well as 56% of problem-solving skills.

These results indicate the importance and the impact of the TRIZ program in an educational environment that helps teachers for using it in an effective way in order to promote problem-solving skills, critical thinking and school Belonging