Top 3 Tips for Problem Solving

According to The Foundation for Critical Thinking, critical thinking is “the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.” Whew! Those are some great skills and a lot of them. The key to actively disseminating information is simply a graphic organizer.

Think of a high schooler deciding which courses to enroll in, clubs to join, or colleges and careers to choose from. How would you as a high schooler have made this choice, i.e. solved this problem? Would you interview friends and family to determine what your strengths are? Could you take that information and make a list? After you have a list, let’s organize those skills you have or are curious about learning. Create a pros vs cons list. Create a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast two (or more) choices to see how much the options overlap. For example, loving animals is a strength. Career options could include therapy animals, veterinarian, volunteer or work at an animal shelter, dog-sitter or dog-walker, and many more. How much does each overlap? Do you have to take constant care of the animals in each option? Do you have to train the animals? Do you build relationships with specific animals? Which of those answers are pros? Cons?

A list is a great graphic organizer to start the mental process of putting ideas on paper and seeing them outside of your mind. There are a variety of even more organizers to rearrange that information into synthesized pieces.

While your current situation might seem to be only your problem, the more we communicate to ourselves and with others, the simpler the problem-solving process becomes. According to What We Know About Mathematical Teaching and Learning, “effective mathematics instruction occurs in community settings in which teachers carefully … provide opportunity for mathematics discourse.” While this book does focus on mathematics instruction, the principle is the same: you discuss with others, you learn. Learning more about your problem and given situation will help you learn more about possible solutions.

Think about planning a large event such as a birthday party or wedding. Any English teacher will ask you “Do you know your 5WH?” Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? Where will it be held? What costs are associated with that location? When will it happen? What will the weather be like? Does that affect your location or other plans? Who is coming? Invited? Who is it for? All these questions and more are best discussed with others. Create a shared document to write out or draw out plans and paste links. Some weddings want seating charts where certain people cannot, or should not, sit next to others. Discussing with family members beforehand is helpful in making those decisions to avoid future problems.

Communication can also happen after the fact. Have you ever researched a topic and presented it to an audience? It could be to your parents for a raise in your allowance. You could have talked to your Health class about atherosclerosis (I did!) or to your school board about the new school building plans (my mom did that one!). All of these, including the dreaded “show your work” or “explain” on assessments, are methods to communicate your thinking and walk someone else through your reasoning. When others “walk in our shoes” and understand better how our brains work, we learn and find solutions that benefit everyone.

By now, you can see the connection between critical thinking skills and communication. You think critically to organize information. You organize information in some fashion – essay, digital presentation, vision board, diorama, notebook paper, graph paper, and you share that information and thinking with someone else.

In school, collaboration is when you peer edit another’s essay or check an equation or find the error in someone’s homework, and then you help them. Your edits on an essay help make their essay flow more, be well written, or persuade an audience. By finding the missing negative or decimal point on math homework, you both will remember to correct that misconception.

In Jo Boaler’s book What’s Math Got To Do With It?, she records her experiences and research on growth mindsets in math classrooms. Boaler states that “… our brains grow when we make mistakes because those are the times we struggle, and our brains grow the most when we are challenged….”. Alongside herself as the author, Jo Boaler includes quotes from students in her summer school programs, Jorge and Tanya, for example. Jorge enjoyed working in small groups because “you learn more from other people’s ideas”, and Tanya described it eloquently with “You can do it multiple ways….you can look at it one way, turn your head, and all of a sudden you see a whole different picture.” Both students found success in a program that valued their thoughts and set the expectation of valuing others’ thoughts.

In conclusion, critical thinking is where problem solving starts, communication presents your analyses, and collaboration analyzes the analysis (i.e. uses critical thinking skills) with someone else. Collaboration brings us back to the beginning of the process not to start over but to improve, refine, and make ready to test the solution.

I know you are ready to learn more! Below are free resources on my Teachers Pay Teachers store to start making lists, pulling apart the pieces, and synthesizing it back together in a meaningful evaluation.

Enjoy!

1. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Brain-Dump-List-Pros-and-Cons-7852650

2. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/5WH-Planning-Questions-7852637

3. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Problem-Solving-Practice-Cactus-7852665

https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766

Foundation for Critical Thinking. (n.d.). Defining Critical Thinking. Defining critical thinking. Retrieved March 10, 2022, from

What We Know About Mathematical Teaching and Learning, pg 18

What We Know about Mathematics Teaching and Learning. Solution Tree Press, 2010.

What Has Math Got To Do With It? Jorge page 159, Tanya page 164

Boaler, Jo. What’s Math Got to Do with It?: How Teachers and Parents Can Transform Mathematics Learning and Inspire Success. Penguin Books, 2015.