Teaching Problem Solving

Business leaders are calling for workers who can solve problems and innovate solutions.  This is a common demand that most educators are aware of, but how can educators teach such abstract skills?  Every problem has its own nuances, and requires unique solutions every time.  Regardless of the problems faced, there are fundamental tools that are necessary to solve problems.  The good news is that these fundamental tools can be taught.  The two most important tools that every problem solver possesses are critical thinking and creative thinking.  

Most educators have heard the terms but we would like go further define them in terms of their purpose and use. 

Critical thinking is convergent.  It focuses intently on a topic, paying careful attention to logic and rules.  Critical thinking breaks a subject into its parts and investigates how the parts relate to each other:  categorizing, sequencing, comparing, ranking.  It is in-the-box thinking.

Creative thinking is divergent.  It sees a topic as a whole and imagines it is as an analogy for something else; envisioning, improvising, wondering.  Creative thinking reaches out to explore possibilities and defies convention and rules.  It is out-of-the-box thinking. 

Educators must teach both.  Just as students can learn specific strategies for convergent, analytical thinking, they can learn specific strategies for divergent, expansive thinking.  Once students have gained these specific mental strategies, they can combine their critical and creative thinking to solve problems effectively.

Problem solving starts with critical thinking – analyzing a problem – and then shifts to creative thinking – imagining solutions.  To plan a solution requires more critical thinking, while applying the solution is a creative process.  By shifting back and forth between the two types of thinking, students eventually arrive a solution that works.

Teaching problem solving is primarily about teaching critical AND creative thinking in a process that ultimately leads to an innovative solution.