Activity 6.1 Problem Solving

Problem solving is analogous to learning because it is a process in which learners, or people with problems, attempt to call upon associations in their long term memory to achieve a goal for which they have no known solution.  In other words, problem solvers must study the discrepancy or problem, make connections to the information they currently have to hypothesize a solution, possibly attempt to solve the problem, and if they fail, analyze their failed attempts to design another approach, and then try again until they arrive at a solution.  Once they have a solution, they are in possession of knowledge they did not have when they began the process.  The knowledge in the case of trial and error has been constructed through the repetitive attempts to solve the problem, and the refinement of the problem solvers’ associations.  Repeated experiences with problem-solving will expand the problem solvers’ repertoires and result in more numerous or better-defined connections.  Once problem solvers have a solution to a problem, they can apply the solution to similar problems that arise.  The trial and error process sounds a lot like Piaget’s process of adaptation; accommodation and assimilation.  Any information that is useful and related to the problem at hand can be assimilated in the problem-solving schema or knowledge structure.  Information that does not fit in a currently existing knowledge structure may result in accommodation.  Problem solvers will modify their currently existing problem solving knowledge structures to fit the observation(s) they have made during their problem solving process.  Through the process of problem solving it is likely that problem solvers will alter their behavior and equally likely that each successive attempt will in some way change their capacity to behave and possibly develop what James referred to as “the organization of acquired habits of conduct and tendencies to behavior” (James, 1899, p. 29) that work well when these problem solvers encounter the problem (or a similar problem) again.

If you define problem solving as it is defined by John Bransford  in the class PowerPoint, (2012) “the process of achieving a desired goal, for which there was initially no familiar solution”, (slide 17), then I believe that it is not necessary to solve a problem to learn.  This is simply because I believe that we do not always have a goal when we are learning; I think this is frequently true, but not a necessary prerequisite to learning.  We may learn unintentionally through an experience or event, acquiring episodic knowledge.

I recently was assigned a new responsibility at work.  We are building a system that will deliver a national assessment and also house professional development, track certifications and training, generate reports, exchange data with state systems, and serve as a point of contact and exchange for communities of practice.  This project is much larger than any other system I have designed, and I honestly felt overwhelmed.  There are so many people involved, all over the country, and it was very difficult to define the problem!  We convened for two three day meetings, bringing together subject matter experts, design architects, and program administrators.  In the first of these meetings we broke down the project into component parts (fractionation) and we brainstormed ideas for meeting the needs of the project through contributions and work efforts of each of the project participants.  All attendees of the meeting were free to voice their opinions and thoughts and respond to the contributions of the others.  This sounds like a think and talk aloud to me.  Then we adjourned for a week and each of us thought through our experience at the meeting (incubating).  We reconvened for a second three day meeting in which we reviewed what we thought we knew, talked about innovative alternate approaches to several of the problems we had identified, further refined our ideas and defined the problem.  Then we all went home to reflect upon our meetings and our process.  I said just today to my boss that the most beneficial outcome of the process was that as a group we discovered how much there is to be done.  We have many calls and meetings ahead, and though I literally have three pages of decisions that are yet to be made, for me the problem is defined and I have a direction.