Effects of Experiential Learning Strategies on Problem Solving Ability of Adolescents from Psychological Hardiness Perspective

The present study examined the effectiveness of Experiential Learning Strategies on Problem Solving Ability from Psychological Hardiness perspective. The sample comprised of 260 (132 males and 128 females) adolescents studying in four Government Model Senior Secondary Schools of Chandigarh. Psychological Hardiness Scale by Nowack (1990) was administered and students were categorized in High psychological hardiness group and Low psychological hardiness group by using Kelley's Method. The Problem Solving Inventory (PSI) by Heppner (1988) was administered twice as pre-test and post-test measurement instrument to assess perceptions of problem solving ability of adolescents. Experimental group (N=130) was taught by adopting Experiential Learning Strategies and control group (N=130) was taught by Traditional Teaching Strategies. A 2 × 2 factorial design was used to study the main effects and interaction effects of the independent variables of Teaching strategies and Psychological Hardiness on the dependent variable of Problem Solving Ability. Significant main effects of Experiential Learning Strategies and High Psychological Hardiness were revealed on the appraisal of Problem solving ability of adolescents . Results also indicated statistically significant interaction between teaching strategies and psychological hardiness on Problem solving ability. High Hardy group taught through Experiential Learning Strategies developed significantly higher Problem Solving Ability than that of Low Hardy group taught through Traditional Teaching Strategies. The result of present study that High Hardy group (HH) performed significantly better on the variable of Problem Solving Ability than Low Hardy group (LH) group, has significance for both educators and school counsellors. Overall, these findings prove new insights about how Experiential Learning Strategies may contribute to the relationship between psychological hardiness and problem solving as an important coping skill for adolescents.