Thinking Skills

Week 3
STUDY SKILLS
Problem Solving
Problem Types

The kinds of problems we encounter vary in structured (Newell and Simon, 1972). The position
the amount of structure they provide. Problems of a problem on this continuum determines the way
are often represented on a continuum from well it is taught and learned. The table below compares
structured, through moderately structured, to ill three points on the continuum of problem types.

Type of Well Structured Moderately Structured Ill Structured Problems

Problem
Definition Problems that use a step-by-
step process, rule, formula,
equation or algorithm to be
solved.
Problems
Problems that require
varying strategies and
adaptations to fit particular
contexts.
Problems with vague
and unclear goals.
Solution strategies least
constrained.

Characteristics • Solution strategy is
usually predictable
• Convergent (one right
answer)
• All starting information is
usually part of the
problem statement.
• Often more than one
acceptable solution
strategy.
• Convergent (one right
answer)
• Needed information often
must be gathered.
• Solution is not well
defined or predictable.
Multiple perspectives,
goals, and solutions.
• There is no single
well-defined and agreed
upon solution; there may
not be a fully satisfactory
solution at all.
• Needed information
often must be gathered.

Examples Balancing a checkbook, Designing a spreadsheet, Painting a portrait,

following a recipe, and writing a letter, and designing a bridge, and
solving a crossword puzzle. planning a sales call. creating a new computer
program.
Implications • The skills for these are •Requires skills of mental • Uses heavy abstract,
for Teaching limited to similar types of modeling, problem analogical, symbolic
and Testing problems. Transfer is poor. representation, analogical/ reasoning and cognitive
• Learner simply memorizes abstract reasoning, and flexibility. Transfer is
the procedure; tasks often evaluation, all within the strongest.
become automated with context. Transfer is strong. • Must help the learner
practice. • Learner must invent define the context and
• Easily incorporated into strategy which suits the goals of the problem.
job aids and performance context. • Provide opportunities
support systems. for divergent practice
(many right answers).

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Most Jobs Have Many Problem Types
Most real-world jobs include a mixture of problems
that vary in degree of structure as well as the
solution strategy required. As an example, we
can analyze how a team of employees working at
a furniture factory design and implement a new
quality control system for tracking production
process errors.
• The team’s overall goal is to improve quality. This
is an ill structured problem where the solutions
are not constrained. As with any ill structured
problem, there is no single well defined and
agreed-upon solution, and there may not be a fully
satisfactory solution at all. There are no general
rules or principles to guide the development of this
process that uses a wide range of problem solving,
communication, and quality control strategies.
• These employees will also encounter many
moderately-structured tasks such as selecting the
spreadsheet for calculating statistics on errors,
designing the reporting system for documenting
and correcting errors, and performing root cause
analysis. These problems have some well-
structured parts, but employees will need to
determine the adaptations that need to be made
and strategies to be used in this particular context.
For example, employees must decide how to set
up the spreadsheet application to meet the needs of
the production workers as well as the management
teams.
• Designing this system also involves many well-
structured problems such as actually tracking and
reporting production errors and making adjustments
in the production process. Employees rely heavily
on their declarative knowledge to solve problems
using well-defined procedures, principles, concepts
and facts. To reduce errors, employees enter
information into a spreadsheet, print out results, and
email them to management teams. They also make
adjustments in the factory equipment as needed.
These problems often have convergent solutions:
all can agree when the statistics have been correctly
calculated, and when quality has improved.
The Problem Solving Process for Ill Structured
Problems
For ill structured problems the problem solving
process consists of a sequence of sections that fit
together depending on the type of problem to be
solved. These are:
• Problem Definition.
• Problem Analysis.
• Generating possible Solutions.
• Analyzing the Solutions.
• Selecting the best Solution(s).
• Planning the next course of action (Next
Steps)
The process is only a guide for problem solving.
It is useful to have a structure to follow to make
sure that nothing is overlooked. Nothing here is
likely to be brand new to anyone, but it is the pure
acknowledgement and reminding of the process that
can help the problems to be solved.
1. Problem Definition
The normal process for solving a problem will
initially involve defining the problem you want to
solve. You need to decide what you wantWR achieve
and write it down. Often people keep the problem
in their head as a vague idea and can so often
get lost in what they are trying to solve that no
solution seems to fit. Merely writing down the
problem forces you to think about what you are
actually trying to solve and how much you want
to achieve. The first part of the process not only
involves writing down the problem to solve, but also
checking that you are answering the right problem.
It is a check-step to ensure that you do not answer
a side issue or only solve the part of the problem
that is most easy to solve. People often use the most
immediate solution to the first problem definition
that they find without spending time checking WKDWthe
problem is the right one to answer.
2. Problem Analysis
The next step in the process is often to check where
we are, what is the current situation and what is
involved in making it a problem. For example,
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what are the benefits of the current product/service/
process? And why did we decide to make it like
that? Understanding where the problem is coming
from, how it fits in with current developments and
what the current environment is, is crucial when
working out whether a solution will actually work
or not. Similarly you must have a set of criteria by
which to evaluate any new solutions or you will
not know whether the idea is workable or not. This
section of the problem solving process ensures
that time is spent in stepping back and assessing
the current situation and what actually needs to be
changed.
After this investigation, it is often good to go back
one step to reconfirm that your problem definition is
still valid. Frequently after the investigation people
discover that the problem they really want to answer
is very different from their original interpretation of
it.
3. Generating possible Solutions
When you have discovered the real problem that
you want to solve and have investigated the climate
into which the solution must fit, the next stage is
to generate a number of possible solutions. At this
stage you should concentrate on generating many
solutions and should not evaluate them at all. Very
often an idea, which would have been discarded
immediately, when evaluated properly, can be
developed into a superb solution. At this stage, you
should not pre-judge any potential solutions but
should treat each idea as a new idea in its own right
and worthy of consideration.
4. Analyzing the Solutions
This section of the problem solving process is where
you investigate the various factors about each of the
potential solutions. You note down the good and bad
points and other things which are relevant to each
solution. Even at this stage you are not evaluating
the solution because if you do so then you could
decide not to write down the valid good points
about it because overall you think it will not work.
However you might discover that by writing down
its advantages that it has a totally unique advantage.
Only by discovering this might you choose to put
the effort in to develop the idea so that it will work.
5. Selecting the best Solution(s)
This is the section where you look through the
various influencing factors for each possible solution
and decide which solutions to keep and which to
disregard. You look at the solution as a whole and
use your judgment as to whether to use the solution
or not. In Innovation Toolbox, you can vote using
either a Yes/No/Interesting process or on a sliding
scale depending on how good the idea is. Sometimes
pure facts and figures dictate which ideas will work
and which will not. In other situations, it will be
purely feelings and intuition that decides. Remember
that intuition is really a lifetimes experience and
judgement compressed into a single decision.
By voting for the solutions you will end up with
a shortlist of potential solutions. You may want to
increase the depth in the analysis of each idea and
vote again on that shortlist to further refine your
shortlist.
You will then end up with one, many or no viable
solutions. In the case where you have no solutions
that work, you will need to repeat the generation
of solutions section to discover more potential
solutions. Alternatively you might consider re-
evaluating the problem again as sometimes you may
not find a solution because the problem definition is
not well defined or self-contradictory.
6. Planning the next course of action (Next Steps)
This section of the process is where you write down
what you are going to do next. Now that you have
a potential solution or solutions you need to decide
how you will make the solution happen. This will
involve people doing various things at various times
in the future and then confirming that they have
been carried out as planned. This stage ensures that
the valuable thinking that has gone into solving the
problem becomes reality. This series of Next Steps
is the logical step to physically solving the problem.
The Problem Solving Process for Well Structured
Problems
Well Structured Problems are the basic problems
from which all other problems are built. Well
structured problems have a standard procedure
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by which they can be solved, which we call an
algorithm. An algorithm is a series of steps that you
perform in a sequence, to accomplish the goal of
the problem. Each step in the algorithm produces
a result that is used in later steps. The last step
produces the desired result.
In its most general sense, an algorithm is any set of
detailed instructions which results in a predictable
end-state from a known beginning. Algorithms are
only as good as the instructions given, however, and
the result will be incorrect if the algorithm is not
properly defined or followed.
A basic example of an algorithm would be
instructions for assembling a model airplane. Given
the starting set of a number of marked pieces,
one can follow the instructions given to result in
a predictable end-state: the completed airplane.
Misprints in the instructions, or a failure to properly
follow a step will result in a faulty end product.
If you approach problem solving by first looking to
master these basic generic problems, you acquire
for yourself the tools for solving more complex
problems. You also reduce the problem-solving
demands in your course to a manageable level.
Our purpose in writing this section is to provide you
with a powerful approach to solving any problem.
Many students, when they first encounter a problem,
ask themselves, “How can I solve this problem?” We
encourage you to replace this question with the more
powerful question, “What kind of problem is this?”
Armed with this question, you begin the problem-
solving process by seeking to relate the problem to
others that you have already learned to solve. lf the
problem is similar to a generic problem you have
already learned, then the solution process is already
known. You then follow the appropriate algorithm to
its conclusion.
Suppose you encounter a problem that does not
resemble a generic problem you know. Now your
job is quite different. First, you must engage in
problem-solving activities that will lead you to
understand and eventually solve the problem.
Perhaps you can reason creatively, linking concepts
and rules to accomplish the goal of the problem.
Perhaps your professor will workRXW the problem in
class or you can find a worked-out text example
to use as a model. However, your job does not end
here. After obtaining the solution, you turn that
problem into a generic problem by developing for
yourself the solution algorithm. Thus, you add a new
generic problem to your repertoire.
The process of becoming a strong problem solver
will involve two tasks at first: (1) recognizing
problems as belonging to classes of generic
problems and (2) developing the ability to generate
your own algorithms for generic problems. By
building a complete repertoire of solution processes
for each topic of your course, you provide yourself
with the basic building blocks for solutions to
many problems. When you encounter a harder
problem, you can use these basic algorithms as
tools, concentrating your energy and attention on the
unique aspects of the problem.
PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS
Logical thinking is simply a matter of organizing
and manipulating information. Problems or
situations that involve logical thinking call for
structure, for relationships between facts, and for
chains of reasoning that make sense.
Research shows two contrasting types of reactions
people have when faced with a thinking problem.
One is a challenge reaction where a person sees
the situation as an opportunity to get some mental
exercise. This person enjoys clear, logical thinking
exercises in finding a resolution to a problem.
The other reaction is avoidance. This person sees the
situation as uncomfortable and involving a defeating
experience. This feeling comes from an earlier
experience of having been defeated by similar
situations.
The reason for these two contrasting reactions is
found in one word: experience. The person with
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strong thinking skills has had opportunities to
master certain, basic mental procedures that work
well in a broad variety of situations. This person
has also found rewards and satisfaction in using
his challenging problems. The person who avoids
logic problems at one time experienced defeat
and consistently found such problems unpleasant.
Anyone with this background would naturally
avoid future opportunities to gain more experience
in problem solving and thus block his or her
development of such skills.
1. THINKING IN STEPS
The basis of all logical thinking is sequential
thought. This process involves taking the important
ideas, facts, and conclusions involved in a problem
and arranging them in a chain-like progression.
To think logically is to think in steps. People who
have difficulty with logical thinking usually have
very little patience with these intricate, step-wise
processes.
EXAMPLE:
Cathy knows French and German, Sandra knows
Swedish and Russian, Cindy knows Spanish and
French, Paula knows German and Swedish. If
French is easier than German, Russian is harder
than Swedish, German is easier than Swedish, and
Spanish is easier than French, which girl knows the
most difficult languages?
The answer to this problem is not immediately
obvious; however, most people probably see two or
three major steps needed to solve the problem. The
first step, one would take, is to rank the languages
according to difficulty in a list from hardest to
easiest. The second step would then be to write the
name of each person by the languages they speak.
At this point the person can see who knows the most variables such as time. Time can be represented in a
difficult languages.
Step
STEP 1 I Step II STEP 2
Russian Sandra
Swedish
Russian Sandra, Paula
Sandra
German
Swedish Paula, Cathy
Sandra, Paula
French Cathy, Cindy Paula, Cathy
German
Spanish Cindy Cathy, Cindy
French
Spanish Cindy
2. DRAWING PICTURES
The most useful weapon you have for attacking
just about any kind of problem is a pen or a pencil.
By drawing a picture, a sketch, a diagram, or some
kind of visual representation of the problem, you
immediately force it to hold still. You gain a certain
degree of mastery over it.
This one factor is probably the most important
difference between people who think clearly and
logically and those who do not. The skilled thinker
realizes the value of conceptualizing the problem
graphically, putting the various factors down on
paper, and organizing what he or she knows so far.
The unskilled or inefficient thinker tends to simply
sit and muse, without embarking on any particular
course of mental action, as if waiting for some
inspiration to strike.
The logical thinker moves into the problem in small,
clearly defined steps and develops an organized
picture of it. Drawing pictures to help you think
logically is fairly simple. It is more of an attitude
and a habit than a skill. It has nothing to do with
artistic ability it simply involves taking information
and putting it down in a concrete form for further
study and thought.
EXAMPLE:
You want to cook some vegetables for 9 minutes
without any breaks. You only have a 4-minute
timer and a 7-minute timer. Neither timer has any
markings so they can be used for only starting
and stopping. How can you measure a continuous
9-minute period with only these two timers? This
problem becomes confusing quickly if one simply
tries to work it out in his/her head. This problem
illustrates the value of drawing, even with intangible
drawing by a straight line. The time keeping of each
timer can be shown with a line with starts and stops
shown by asterisks on the line.
7 Minute Timer: ( 7 )
4 Minute Timer: *Start Stop*
( 4 )( 3 ) (1) ( 4 )( 3 )
( 4 )( 3 ) (1) ( 4 )( 3 )
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3. REPHRASING
Often a problem or situation seems overly complex
or hard to understand, simply because the words
someone else uses to describe it are complicated,
vague, or confusing. By rephrasing the problem in
your own words, you can get it organized in your
mind. You can simplify it and get a firmer grasp of
it.
EXAMPLE :
The paragraph below appeared in a newspaper. If
you were a church leader, would you be pleased
with the announcement?
The District Court today overturned the injunction,
forbidding police to enforce the mayor’s directive to
halt construction of X-rated theaters near churches.
The above paragraph may need to be restated in
one’s own words to make it more meaningful. For
example one might take the two words ‘overturned’
and ‘forbidding’ and remove the phrases associated
with both these words because they cancel each
other out. What this step leaves is a more direct
statement saying police can halt construction of
X-rated theaters near churches.
4. REDUCING THE POSSIBLE ANSWERS
One reason you may sometimes feel overwhelmed
by a problem is that it may appear to be bigger, more
complex, and more confusing than it really is. The
technique of reducing the problem down to a smaller
size can help you regain a feeling of confidence and
mastery. By looking at the problem carefully and not
getting distracted by the way someone first presents
it to you, you may be able to put your finger on the
one key factor that lies at the heart of the problem.
This is a reductive strategy; it seeks to condense the
problem to its very essence so you can resolve it
most efficiently.
EXAMPLE:
Boris, Irwin, and Steve have occupations of
librarian, teacher, and electrician, although not
necessarily in that order. The librarian is Steve’s
cousin. Irwin lives next door to the electrician.
Boris, who knows more facts than the teacher, must
drive 45 minutes to visit Irwin’s house. What is each
man’s occupation?
This problem is solved by a series of steps of
reducing the number of possible correct answers.
One must simply identify what each man could
not do for an occupation and see what possibility
is left. As recommended earlier, a drawing that
illustrates the information given is most useful.
The chart shown below works best for these types
of problems. The next step would be to reduce the
number of possibilities by the information given.
1: The librarian could not be Steve, they’re cousins.
2: Irwin could not be the electriciDQ they’re
neighbors.
3: Boris could not be the teacher, and isn’t Irwin’s
neighbor.
Librarian Teacher Electrician
Boris No (3) No (2, 3)
Irwin No (2)
Steven No (1)
At this point you can start making deductions. Boris
must be the librarian, which leaves Irwin as the
teacher, making Steven the electrician.
5. ITEMIZING
An easy and effective way to get control of a
confused situation is to itemize the variables
involved. By making a list of the key factors or
possibilities involved you can bring the problem
clearly into focus. Making lists is one of the most
useful tools for logical thought processes. Itemizing
a complex problem into its various issues, variables,
and facts, you begin to see which items are most
important and how the variables can be related
together in a model.
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EXAMPLE:
If you flip two coins at the same time, what are the
chances they will both come up heads? In other
words, what is the probability of getting two heads? text format that quickly becomes confusing because
By simply itemizing all the possibilities, you begin
to get a better picture of what this problem is about.
Coin #1 Coin #2 Result
Head Head 1
Head Tail 2
Tail Tail 3
Tail Head 4
We see there are four possible outcomes with each
set of tosses, with two heads being one of those
four. Without jumping into statistics, we can say that
there is a 1 in 4 chance or 25 percent probability of
getting two heads.
6. CHAINING
Chaining is laying out various options in the form
of a diagram that shows how some options precede
others. Chaining is useful in those situations where
you are faced with a number of choices, and you
need to make sure you have accounted for all of
them. One useful diagram for chaining is a tree
diagram. This is simply a sketch that shows a group
of branching lines, one for each major option you
want to consider. Some options will have sub-topics
CHAINING DIAGRAM
Is selling price greater
than market value?
YES
Is market value greater
than cost price?
NO
YES Is selling price greater
than cost price?
Tax charged on
selling price less
the market value,
less expenses. YES
NO
Tax charged on
selling price less
the cost price, less charged or allowed.
expenses.
branching off from them.
EXAMPLE:
Below is an explanation related to tax accounting in
of the many options involved. Following the text is
a diagram which shows how the options explained
in the text are “chained” together. The chain diagram
makes the explanation much clearer and easier to
follow.
If the asset consists of stocks or shares which have
values quoted on a stock exchange, or unit trust
units whose values are regularly quoted, the gain or
loss (subject to expenses) accruing after April 1965,
is the difference between the amount you received
on disposal and the market value on 6 April 1965,
except that in the case of a gain where the actual
cost of the asset was higher than the value at 6
April 1965, the chargeable gain is the excess of the
amount you received on disposal over the original
cost or acquisition price; and in the case of a loss,
where the actual cost of the asset was lower than
the value of 6 April 1965, the allowable loss is the
excess of the original cost or acquisition price over
the amount received on disposal. If the substitution
of original cost for the value at 6 April 1965, turns
a gain into a loss, or a loss into a gain, there is, for
the purposes of tax, no chargeable gain or allowable
loss.
NO
Is market value greater
than cost price?
YES
Is selling price greater NO
than cost price?
Tax allowed on
market value less
the selling price,
NO plus expenses.
YES
Tax allowed on
No tax either cost price less the
selling price, plus
expenses.
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7. JUMPING THE TRACK
The problem-solving step of jumping the track is
one of the most useful methods; however, it is very
difficult to explain. It is really not a logical tactic. To
jump the track in problem solving means to abandon
your current approach and try something different. It
means to stop trying to proceed down a certain path
of thought and starting down a new one.
EXAMPLE:
Let us refer back to the problem in the drawing
discussion with the two timers. Suppose you were
trying to solve the problem with the thought in
mind that you had to start timing the cooking period
when you first started using either timer. With this
constraining “train of thought” in mind you might
become frustrated. “Jumping the track” from this
assumption allows you to start again with a new
approach and makes the problem easier to solve.
Adapted from Albrecht, Karl. Brain Building,
Prentice Hall Press, New York, 1987
Characteristics of a Good Problem Solver
Courses that are problem solving in nature
(mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering,
accounting, etc.) may be frustrating for some
students due to weaknesses in problem solving
skills. The challenge is to determine where these
weaknesses are. This may be done by a tabulation
of types of mistakes made on homework papers or
previous tests. Errors are primarily caused by a lack
of accuracy and thoroughness in thinking. Here are
five ways in which the breakdowns in reasoning
frequently occur.
1. Positive Attitude
First of all, good problem solvers have a strong
belief that academic reasoning problems can be
solved through careful persistent analysis. Poor
problem solvers, by contrast, frequently express
the opinion that “either you know the answer to a
problem or you don’t know it, and if you don’t know
it you might as well give up or guess.” Poor problem
solvers haven’t learned that a problem may at first
appear confusing-that the way to work the problem
may not at first be obvious-but that through carefully
breaking the problem down, by pin-pointing first
one piece of information and then another, a difficult
problem can be gradually analyzed. Poor problem
solvers lack both confidence and experience in
dealing with problems through gradual (sometimes
lengthy) analysis.
2. Concern for Accuracy
Good problem solvers take great care to understand
the facts and relationships in a problem fully and
accurately. They are almost compulsive in checking
whether their understanding of a problem is correct
and complete. By contrast, poor problem solvers
generally lack such an intense concern about
understanding. For example, good problem solvers
sometimes reread a problem several times until they
are sure they understand it. Poor problem solvers, on
the other hand, frequently miss a problem because
they do not know exactly what it states. Quite often
they could have found out if they had been more
careful, if they had reexamined and thought about
the problem analytically. But poor problem solvers
have not learned how important it is to try to be
completely accurate in understanding all of the ideas
of a problem. (Recall how the experienced problem
solvers in the last two exercises reread sections of
the problem to be sure they understood them fully,
and rechecked even their simplest calculations.)
3. Breaking the Problem into Parts
Good problem solvers have learned that analyzing
complex problems and ideas consists of breaking the
ideas into smaller steps. They have learned to attack
a problem by starting at a point where they can make
some sense of it, and then proceeding from there.
In contrast, poor problem solvers have not learned
the approach of breaking a complex problem into
sub-problems--dealing first with one step and then
another. In the problems that follow, you will see
many examples of how complex problems can be
worked one step at a time.
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4. Avoiding Guessing
Poor problem solvers tend to jump to conclusions
and guess answers without going through all the
steps needed to make sure that the answers are
accurate. Sometimes they make intuitive judgments
in the middle of a problem without checking to
see whether the judgments are correct. At other
times they work a problem part of the way, but
then give up on reasoning and guess on the answer.
Good problem solvers tend to work problems from
beginning to end in small, careful steps.
The tendency for poor problem solvers to make
more errors-to work too hastily and sometimes
skip steps-can be traced to the three characteristics
already discussed. First, poor problem solvers do
not strongly believe that persistent analysis is an
effective way (in fact the only way) to deal with
academic reasoning problems, causing errors in both
simple computations and in logic.
Whimbley & Lochhead – Problem Solving & Comprehension, p. 28-29
5. Activeness in Problem Solving
The final characteristic of good problem solvers is
the tendency to be more active than poor problem
solvers when dealing with academic reasoning
problems. Put simply, they do more things as they
try to understand and answer difficult questions. For
example, if a written description is hard to follow,
a good problem solver may try to create a mental
picture of the ideas in order to “see” the situation
better. If a presentation is lengthy, confusing, or
vague, he will try to pin it down in terms of familiar
experiences and concrete examples. Furthermore, he
will ask himself questions about a problem, answer
the questions, and “talk to himself” as he clarifies
his thoughts. He may also count on his fingers, point
to things with his pen, write on the problem, make
diagrams or use other physical aids to thinking. All
in all, good problem solvers are active in many ways
that improve their accuracy and help them get a
clearer understanding of ideas and problems.
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