What we will cover

• Problem Solving Processes• Exercise: Assumptions• What Teachers can do

Exercise Showing Assumptions Can Affect Problem Solving Results

Problem Statement: A man has a fox, a duck and a bushel of corn which he wishes to transport across a body of water. The fox and the duck cannot be left alone. The duck and the corn cannot be left alone. The boat is only capable of handling the man and one of the three.

Find the best way to get them all across.

Problem Statement: A man has a fox, a duck and a bushel of corn which he wishes to transport across a body of water. The fox and the duck cannot be left alone. The duck and the corn cannot be left alone. The boat is only capable of handling the man and one of the three.

Find the best way to get them all across.

Engineering Problem Solving

Problem Statement (with diagram)

Assumptions

Theory

Solution Steps

Verify and Identify Results

Engineering Problem Solving

Problem Statement (with diagram)

Assumptions

Theory

Solution Steps

Verify and Identify Results

Planning for Food Shortages

A relief worker needs to calculate how much rice an adult refugee from Burma eats in a week. If these refugees eat rice at every meal and one serving of rice has a precooked weight of 1 ounce, how many pounds of rice would one adult refugee eat in a year?

17 35

52

Determine the area of the triangle below.

Problem Solving – Cause & Effect

To increase a student’s problem solving competence

Give assignments where:

• They take risks• They can practice healthy skepticism (critical thinking)• There is a reflective component• They develop as problem solvers• They understand that failure with effort is experimentation• You introduce Concept Maps: each defines a specific subject• Kepner-Tregoe Problem Solving Methods, et. al.

Decision Making

Decision Making

Decision Making

References - Creative Problem Solving

H. Scott Fogler, Strategies for Strategies for Creative Problem Solving, Prentice Hall, 2008.

Edward and Monika Lumsdaine, Creative Problem Solving: Thinking Skills for a Changing World, McGraw Hill, New York, 1995.

Edward de Bono, Six Thinking Hats, Backbay Books, 1999.

Covey, Stephen. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Simon and Schuster, 2004.