Studies in cognitive psychology conducted in the 1960s and 1970s provided the impetus for researchers who attempted to codify the procedures, behaviors, and group dynamics associated with effective problem solving. In this chapter, we indicate how research over the past twenty years has shaped an understanding of effective problem-solving skills and their place in the undergraduate curriculum. We highlight selected authors who have informed a sense of effective problem-solving and its relationshp to a variety of academic domains.
First, we provide an overview of the components of the problem-solving process, emphasizing that problem solving constitutes an iterative as opposed to a linear process. Second, we describe how individual characteristics influence the choices and outcomes associated with problem solving. Third, we discuss how an understanding of problem solving informs some innovative methods for teaching in college classrooms. We present the work of faculty who share their own innovative teaching techniques. Finally, we describe the role of problem solving in undergraduate education by focusing not only on math, science, and engmeering (fields traditionally associated with the teaching of problem solving), but also on a variety of other disciplines that, among other things, require their students to effectively solve complex, poorly defined problems.
Framework for Understanding Problem Solving
Along with the proliferation of definitions, frameworks, and step-by-step outlines of problem solving. there is considerable consensus regarding some of the
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