Problem solving skills

Is it possible to teach problem solving

skills?

Problem solving is a cognitive processing directed at

achieving a goal where no solution method is obvious to
the problem solver

What Skills are Used in Problem

Solving?
Making judgements
Analytical skills
Decision making
Collecting information
Planning

Survey of Key Skills: Problem-solving

During the past two years, have you been involved in
any activity, whether inside or outside school/college,
in which you critically reviewed an idea, concept or
theory
During the past two years, have you been involved in
any activity, whether inside or outside school/college,
in which you questioned or cross-examined someone to
extract some information?
During the past two years, have you been involved in
any activity, whether inside or outside school/college,
in which you identified the information needed to solve
a problem?

What are your issues with

the teaching of Problem-Solving?

How do you solve problems?

What processes do you use?
Can you explain them to another person?
Do these processes vary depending upon the
problem?
Use of Cognitive Interviewing...

Problem solving skills what do we

know about people who are good at it?
What is an expert?
Someone who knows the domain
thoroughly solving problems comes
naturally?
Someone who can think of things to do
even when no clear solutions suggests
itself?

Expert problem solvers

Have a better memory for relevant details in
the problem
Classify problems according to their
underlying principles
Use well-established procedures
Work forwards towards a goal (rather than
backwards)

Model of Learning
Content Understanding
Collaboration

Problem-solving
Learning

Communication

Self-regulation

Requirements for Problem-Solving

Content
Understanding

Domain-dependent
problem-solving
strategies

Metacognition
Planning

Self-monitoring

Self-regulation

Motivation
Effort

Self-efficacy

Understanding the Process:

How to Solve it
Engage: I want to and I can
Read the problem (and all the information)
Listen to the tutor
Learn about the situation that poses the problem
Motivation
Overcome panic

Understanding the Process:

How to Solve it
Understand the problem: define
Put time in to defining the problem:
Discuss the problem
Ask questions
Can it be visualised?
Restate the problem in your own words
Explain the problem to someone else

Understanding the Process:

How to Solve it
Plan a procedure to solve the problem
Prior experience?
Data available
Content knowledge
Patterns
Estimation
Alternate solutions
Feasibility

Understanding the Process:

How to Solve it
Collection of required data & knowledge
May be necessary to reach a solution on imperfect
knowledge

Understanding the Process:

How to Solve it
Select preferred solution: use and evaluate
Check each step
Can you determine clearly that each step is correct?
Can you prove that each step is correct?

Understanding the Process:

How to Solve it
Reflect on the process
Are you certain you solved the problem?
Can you check the result and your argument?
Can use alternate solutions?
What did you actually do? Can you explain this to
another?
Can you use the result &/or method for another
problem?

Defining the problem

Collect all the relevant information

Clarify background issues
What are the constraints?
Are there sub-problems that can be dealt
with separately?
Can the problem now be formulated?

Brainstorming
Brainstorm to produce a wide range of
possible solutions to the problem
Record uncritically/no comments at this
stage
Use a group of people
Divergent thinking

Information required
In biosciences we can do experiments
which are carefully designed, implemented
and controlled
There is a vast amount of information in the
literature
Collate the data accumulated are there
trends and relationships that help?

Bringing back the data

Collection of the data needs to be followed
by presentation to the group
Person doing this will need to digest the
information
Person doing this will need some
presentation skills
Critical thinking skills required

Do we have a preferred solution?

What criteria can be devised?
Evaluate each possible solution in the light of
these criteria
Reject solutions that do not meet these criteria
Judgements strengths and weaknesses
Now have one or two solutions that meet the
criteria?

Reflection
How efficient was the process, how could it
be made more efficient next time?
Were the problems in definitions, finding
information, understanding information?
How are critical faculties increasing?
Did the group work effectively?
What would you change next time?

Which of these skills can be

taught?
Finding information vocabulary,
library/web skills
Reading the literature format and
conventions used in papers
Presenting information how to organise
data, prepare graphs and tables, talk to a
group, make a poster
Practice at all of these will increase critical skills

Developing problem-solving skills

Make tacit processes explicit

Get students to talk about the problem
Provide guided practice
Ensure that the component procedures are
learned

Problem solving skills

Basic knowledge of facts and ways of doing
things
Metacognition how one uses what one
knows
Heuristics strategies and techniques (find an
easier, related problem)
Beliefs this problem can be solved (positive
attitude)

Understanding the problem

Discuss it, ask questions
Draw a picture
Restate in your own words/tell someone
else about it
Restate the information given
Restate the question

Cunning plan

Have we ever done one like this before?

Do we have of the data needed?
Is there a pattern in the data?
Construct a table or a picture?
What is the answer likely to be?
Would an experiment help?

Reflection
Describe how we did it
Which techniques were most useful?
Can you explain how you did it to someone
else?
Is there another way of doing it?
Does the solution raise any interesting
problems?

Primary Issues for Students

Have confidence in your skill
Be able to describe/visualise the problem in your
own terms
Be able to describe your thought processes
Be able to identify issues, set goals and
define problems
Be organised and systematic, with frequent
monitoring
Be creative and dont be afraid to try different
avenues
Identify criteria and use these criteria to prioritise
Access and use knowledge astutely

Strategies and Good Practice in

Developing Problem-solving Skills
Embedded or separate?
Total embedding
Explicit embedding
Parallel development of skills

Strategies and Good Practice in

Developing Problem-solving Skills
Group or individual?
Problem-solving skills will be discovered and recognised
with the group, and drawn upon
When there is a time limit, individuals will be faster!
Groups provide opportunity for greater innovationBRAINSTORMING
The larger the group, the more ideas available
The larger the group, the less the involvement
Individuals more likely to show vulnerability and doubt

Problem-solving Skills:
Assessment
Problem recognition tasks
Examples of common problems are presented. Students
are asked to identify the basic type of problem represented
Recognition of problem type is the first step to solving the
problem
Appropriate in quantitative and technical courses, but could
also be used to evaluate global problem-solving skills

Problem-solving Skills:
Assessment
Whats the Principle?
Once a type of problem is correctly identified, students
must identify which of the principles involved in the class
must be applied to solve the problem
Assists in the understanding that general types of problems
can be solved with the individual principles involved in class
Appropriate for traditional science and technology courses
and humanities and social sciences subjects

Problem-solving Skills:
Assessment
Documented Problem Solutions
Asks students to keep track of the steps involved in
solving particular types of problems
Lets faculty understand how students approach problems
as well as understand how they comprehend and describe
problem-solving procedures
Useful in subjects that involve mathematical or numerical
processing and analysis

Problem-solving Skills:
Assessment
Background Knowledge Probe
Questionnaires that examine students knowledge of
the subject as they enter a module
Useful as a stand-alone method to determine the most
appropriate level to begin instruction
Content-driven. Can be used to indicate significant
material