Education for adults differs from that of children.  A child's education can begin as early as 2 months where simple interactions of flash cards pave the way to a larger world.

We have witnessed this in our own educational practice and the fruits as our daughter at 13 months could somewhat pronounce, but more remarkable is able to locate countries in her problem solving.  The video speaks more than words.

In community and corporate education at one level, problem solving is just that, solving problems. Presented with a problem you try to solve it. If you have seen the problem before and you already know its solution, you can solve the problem by recall. Solving physics problems is not very different from solving any kind of problem. In your personal and professional life, however, you will encounter new and complex problems. The skillful problem solver is able to invent good solutions for these new problem situations. But how does the skillful problem solver create a solution to a new problem? And how do you learn to be a more skillful problem solver?

Research in the nature of problem solving has been done in a variety of disciplines such as physics, medical diagnosis, engineering, project design and computer programming. There are many similarities in the way experts in these disciplines solve problems. The most important result is that experts follow a general strategy for solving all complex problems. If you practice and learn this general strategy you will be successful in this course. In addition, you will become familiar with a general strategy from solving problems that will be useful in your chosen profession.

A Logical Problem-Solving Strategy

Experts solve real problems in several steps. Getting started is the most difficult step. In the first and most important step, you must accurately visualize the situation, identify the actual problem , and comprehend the problem . At first you must deal with both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the problem. You must interpret the problem in light of your own knowledge and experience; ie. Understanding . This enables you to decide what information is important, what information can be ignored, and what additional information may be needed, even though it was not explicitly provided. In this step it is also important to draw a picture of the problem situation. A picture is worth a thousand words if, of course, it is the right picture. (If a picture is worth a thousand words, and words are a dime a dozen, then what is a pictures monetary value?) In the second step, you must represent the problem in terms of formal concepts and principles, whether these are concepts of architectural design, concepts of medicine, or concepts of physics. These formal concepts and principles enable you to simplify a complex problem to its essential parts, making the search for a solution easier. Third, you must use your representation of the problem to plan a solution . Planning results in an outline of the logical steps required to obtain a solution. In many cases the logical steps are conveniently expressed as mathematics. Forth, you must determine a solution by actually executing the logical steps outlined in your plan. Finally, you must evaluate how well the solution resolves the original problem.

The general strategy can be summarized in terms of five steps:

(1) Comprehend the problem.

(2) Represent the problem in formal terms.

(3) Plan a solution.

(4) Execute the plan.

(5) Interpret and evaluate the solution.

The strategy begins with the qualitative aspects of a problem and progresses toward the quantitative aspects of a problem. Each step uses information gathered in the previous step to translate the problem into more quantitative terms. These steps should make sense to you. You have probably used a similar strategy when you have solved problems before.

This is one of many processes that I use in education.  Be it the corporate workforce, educational institution, home schooled, or tutoring students; successful strategies are paramount to succeed.

If you are stagnant in your business or institution and would like have a professional analysis, fill out the contact form as completely as you can.  We will make an appointment with you to do a company snapshot and prepare a plan that is tailored to your needs.  All fees for the service are credited back to you when you choose to move forward on your educational transaction!

You miss 100% of the times you do not try!