A Translation Approach To Teaching Linear Program Formulation

Scott P. Stevens · Susan W. Palocsay

19 citations0/0 files storedINFORMS Transactions on Education

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Management and Marketing Education Management and Optimization Techniques Complex Systems and Decision Making

Abstract

While there have been many improvements in the teaching of operations research/management science (OR/MS) in recent years, students continue to have great difficulty with the process of constructing a linear programming model. We propose addressing this issue with a translation approach that breaks the process down into a series of small, well-defined steps. The underlying idea is to develop a representation of the problem in terms of measurable quantities that can then be translated, via application of an explicit rule, into the proper algebraic form and/or equivalent spreadsheet formulas. As background, related research on word problem solving from cognitive psychology and mathematical education is reviewed in the paper. We illustrate the translation approach with several examples and explain how using it can improve students' modeling skills. Preliminary data on the effectiveness of the methodology for undergraduate business students in an introductory MS course is also presented.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 19 citations exist upstream.

References

1998Comprehension: A Paradigm for Cognition 1995An introduction to management science: Quantitative approaches to decision making 2015Making Sense of Word Problems 1998Spreadsheet Modeling and Decision Analysis 1996How people learn to skip steps.2007Introduction to Management Science: A Modeling And Case Studies Approach With Spreadsheets 2001Decision Modeling with Microsoft Excel

Cited by

2010Developing Problem Solving and Communication Skills Through Memo Assignments in a Management Science Course 2017Teaching Use of Binary Variables in Integer Linear Programs: Formulating Logical Conditions

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.