Teaching problem solving and database skills that transfer

The main goal of teaching a database application is to prepare students to use the application as a tool to gather information and to solve problems. This study investigated two approaches to teaching problem solving with database applications with the goal of preparing students to transfer their problem solving and database skills to solve an ill structured business problem. The findings reveal that neither the problem solving instruction approach nor the problem solving discovery approach improved students' transfer of problem solving skills. Students continue to have difficulty selecting efficient database procedures to support their problem solving processes. Further research is recommended.