Teaching Problem Solving: Core to All STEM Learning

1. Teaching Problem Solving:Core to All STEM Learning Linda Rumans and Sylvia Unwin With Marcia Williams, Emerita

2. Overview

3. Recent Job Description • Problem Solving:  Shows insight into the root causes of problems. Generates a range of solutions and courses of action including the benefits, costs, and risks associated with each. • Job Title? Theater Manager!

4. Gary Trudeau…

6. Recent Job Description • Problem Solving:  Shows insight into the root causes of problems. Generates a range of solutions and courses of action including the benefits, costs, and risks associated with each. • Job Title? Theater Manager!

7. Where can a student find problem solving?

8. Cartoon Caption OK – Now listen up. Nobody gets in here without answering the following question. A train leaves Philadelphia at 1 pm. It’s travelling at 65 mph. Another train leaves Denver at 4:00…Say, do you need some paper?

9. Questions • What did this kind of problem teaches you? • When did you need to know how to solve a similar problem? • How applicable to your life was this kind of problem? • How transferable were the problem solving strategies to other problems? • More importantly – how relevant is it to our students?

10. Where is Problem Solving Taught? • We assume students will become better problem solvers by experience

11. Problem Solving - Overview • Difference between Content-oriented and Process-oriented course • We tend to focus on the “solution” and not how we got there

12. Problem Solving is a Process • A problem solving course can have content, but the focus is on how did you get to the solution? • Some problems have one correct answer and other problems have a better option. • After students get a solution(s), ask: • What strategies did you use? • How long did it take? • What worked well? • What didn’t work? • Assessment is more difficult in a process-oriented class

13. Problem Solving Strategies • Pattern recognition • Choice of entry point and attention area • Challenge assumptions (the “Why” technique) • Generation of alternatives • Minimum number of alternatives • Minimum time spent developing alternatives

14. Hands On Group Problem How can you use a pair of pliers to cook an egg?

15. Problem Solving Strategies • Suspended judgment • Recognize dominant ideas and crucial factors • Fractionation • Random stimulation • Explain the problem to someone else • Go away from the problem

16. Problem Solving Strategies • Identify obstacles • Build a “straw man” (draft proposal that is not expected to be the final proposal) • Identify the “correct” problem • Recognize problem statements and solution statements • Innovation  Results in accidental inventions

17. Problem Solving Strategies • Binary Reduction • Change one thing • Write Everything Down (slow down and think) • Work backwards (reversal) • Recreate the problem • Elimination

18. Examples of Accidental Inventions • Microwave oven (Percy LeBaron Spencer – engineer working on radar technology late 1940s.) • Pacemaker (Wilson Greatbatch pulled the wrong resistor out of his box) • Penicillin (Sir Alexander Fleming, 1928, forgot to keep one of his culture plates in a sterile environment) • Vulcanized Rubber (Multiple failures to develop a durable form a rubber; 1830’s) • Teflon • Super Glue (1942 – looking for a plastic to be used as a clear gunsight) • Safety Glass • Potato Chips (1853) • Ice Cream Cones (1904 World’s Fair) • Champagne (17th Century, a monk and Dom Pierre Pérignon)

19. Innovation – More Examples http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_92.htm

20. ExamplesProblem Statement or Solution Statement? • “I need a rug.” • “We need a new student garage.” • “My printer needs more memory.” • “I need a new camera.” Statements with the word “need” often indicate a pre-determined solution. Exercise: Practice writing problem statements. Identify the facts you need before you can proceed with identifying possible causes.

21. Sample Assignments – Adaptable to any discipline • Document at least 30 ways to print a Word Document • Write everything down • Generation of Alternatives • Minimum number • Change one thing • Create a problem (and solution) for a problem solving round robin • Create a TechNote (Fractionation, testing, documentation) • Create a one-page list of strategies

22. Classroom Exercises - Examples • Redesign a way to tell time • Cartoons – write captions • How can you use a bucket with a hole? • Brick exercise: • Lists of traditional ways to use bricks • Lists of non-traditional ways to use bricks • Discussion • Moneylender, Father and Daughter problem

23. Money Lender

24. Classroom Exercises • Options are endless • Highly interactive and active class sessions • Objective: Change the way students approach problem solving

25. Student Feedback • “I used lots of the strategies to plan my wedding.” • “I had a digital camera and I couldn’t get it to work. In the past, I would have put the camera back in the box and forgotten about it. After your class, I didn’t give up. I eventually solved the problem.”

26. Specific Recommendation – Problem Solving Course • Objectives • Vocabulary and strategies of problem solving • Emphasize the process, not the solution • Applicable to multiple disciplines • Content • Generic Strategies with generic problems • Content-specific problems • Early in the course of study

27. The Good News! • Problem Solving/Creativity are strategies that can be taught • There are many resources (books, web) • Students with problem solving skills will be more effective in their classes…and the workplace • Assessment continues to be a challenge

28. References http://mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_TMC.htm

29. Resources • Edward deBono, Lateral Thinking • http://www.debonoconsulting.com/edward_de_bono.asp • Roger von Oech, Creative Whack Pack • James L. Adams, Conceptual Blockbusting • Web searches: • Problem Solving • Creativity • Lateral Thinking • Marcia Williams, Bellevue College