Chapter 7: Thinking Skills and Problem Solving Strategies

Thinking and Intelligence

 Thinking Skills or Critical Thinking
 refers to the purposeful mental manipulation of words and images.
 By definition, critical thinking is:
 a careful and deliberate determination of whether to accept reject or suspend judgment on a claim.
 reasonable reflective thinking that is focused on deciding whether to believe or do; an activity both practical and
reflective, that has reasonable belief or action as its goal(s).
 comprises the mental processes, strategies and representations people use to solve problems, make decisions and
learn new concepts.
 this definition emerged from a psychological analysis of critical thinking relative to intelligence.

 Intelligence
 By definition is the capacity for understanding; ability to perceive and comprehend meaning.
 Sternberg believes that by instilling a more qualitative view of intelligence, you can improve critical thinking.
 A theory on intelligence should be able to do the ff:
 relate the intelligence to an individual’s internal world and explain what happens when a person thinks
intelligently.
 Accept the relation between the external world and that person’s intelligence, and explain how intelligence
functions in the “real world”
 relate intelligence to individual’s experiences.
 Currently, there are 3 interpretations of intelligence that are relevant to teaching thinking skills.
 Sternberg’s Triarchic Model of Intelligence:
(1) Intellectual skills and thinking skills are inseparable, although there is more to intelligence than thinking.
Three Elements of the Triarchic Model:
 Componential
o Intelligence (initial segment) is composed of three components:
 Metacomponents (Planning)
• Executive components of intelligence used to plan, monitor and
evaluate problem solving strategies.
 Performance Components (Action)
• Implementation segments of intelligence that help execute the
instructions of the metacomponents.
 Knowledge-Acquisition Components (Feedback)
 • our ability to acquire and use language thus enabling us to use
contextual cues in solving problems.
• It involves three processes:
o Selective encoding- detecting relevant facts that are not
immediately obvious.
o Selective combination- combining unrelated facts.
o Selective comparison- combining old and new
information.
 Experiential
o Experience increases our ability to deal with novel task and make information
processing more automatic.
 Contextual
o Specifies the functions to which components are applied in coping with the external world &
ADAPTATION.

 GARNER’s Multiple Intelligences

(1) The brain has evolved separate systems for different adaptive abilities, talents, or mental skills that are
called “intelligences”
There are 7 types of Intelligences:
(a) Linguistic Intelligence- ability to communicate through language.
(b) Logical-Mathematical Intelligence- ability to analyze and solve mathematical problems.
(c) Spatial Intelligence- ability to perceive and arrange objects in the environment.
(d) Musical Intelligence- ability to analyze to compose or play music.
(e) Bodily-kinesthetic Intelligence- ability to move effectively or manipulate objects effectively.
(f) Intrapersonal Intelligence- ability to know yourself well and understand what motivates your behavior.
(g) Interpersonal Intelligence- ability to function well in social situations understand and predict their
behavior.

 Perkin’s Thinking Frames and Enculturation of Mindware

(1) Intelligence is the combination of 3 different views:
(a) Power Theory of Intelligence- neurological functions
(b) Tactical Theory of Intelligence- how to use the mind.
(c) Content Theory of Intelligence- knowledge base
(2) Thinking Skills improve through intelligence
(a) Thinking frame- representations intended to guide the process of thought by supporting organizing and
activating the process.
3 stages of the thinking frame are acquisition, internalization and transfer.
 (b) Mindware- learnable processes, schemata and attitudes that foster good thinking.
(c) Enculturation- approaches to teaching thinking skills.
4 ways of enculturation: cultural exemplars, direct transmission of key information, involvement in
cultural activities and involvement in cultural interactions.

TAXONOMIES OF THINKING SKILLS

• Taxonomy of Education by Benjamin Bloom.
• to help curriculum construction; identify certain behaviors.
• help in preparing learning experiences and evaluation; tool to analyze in educational process.
a) Cognitive Domain has 6 Levels of educational process
 Knowledge
 Comprehension
 Application
 Analysis
 Synthesis
 Evaluation
(1) Knowledge- require students to remember, recall or recognize facts and terminology and problem-solving
strategies.
(2) Comprehension- focused on some level of understanding, translating to restate what has been read or heard,
to see relationship/connection among parts, draw conclusion from information.
(3) Application- using previously acquired information in a setting modifying ways to use information;
demonstrate, develop, prepare.
(4) Analysis- identifying errors and differentiate facts, opinions, assumptions, hypothesis, or conclusions. Draw
relationships among ideas or compare & contrast.
(5) Synthesis- producing something unique or original; solving problems in a unique way; designing &
composing ways to come up a solution.
(6) Evaluation- form judgments about the value or worth of methods, ideas and etc. for a specific purpose; state
basis from judgment.

CONCEPT FORMATION
• Involves organizing concepts & events into specific mental categories.
• Cannot be taught. Acquired through “fuzzy” concepts, simply by discovering the critical defining features.
• “Prototypes” best examples of a concept. It is used to determine whether less obvious stimuli belong to the concept.
• We need to integrate concepts—permits us to learn & recall information easily; to integrate them is to form a
hierarchical organization of concepts.

PROBLEM SOLVING
Newell & Simon proposed 3 distinct stages in problem-solving:
- divided into smaller, manageable parts
- look for a rule/hypothesis that will solve a particular problem
- evaluate hypothesis

PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES

1) Means of putting things in place carefully and with a great deal of thought.
2) Divided into two categories: general or weak and strong also called specific or detailed.
a) General Strategies-
i) De Bono defines this as a set of principles & guidelines that may apply to any situation. Adds that operational
structures seem to be the basis of general methods that constitute the core of problem-solving.
ii) Bransford and Stern said that working a problem backwards is a general strategy that eases problem solution.
They believed that working backward is helpful whenever the goal is clear and the initial state of the problem us
vague.
b) Strong Strategies-
i) Designed for a specific purpose that seems t be unique to a particular subject
ii) Familiarity with the concept is better able to initiate steps to solve a problem involving knowledge; most
powerful approach to problem solving is to become familiar with the concepts. Concepts provide tools of
representing & solving problems.
3) Sdorow problem solving strategies:
a) Trial and error- simplest strategy, individual tries one possible solution one after another until one works.
b) Insight- person depends on mental manipulation of information produces sudden solution to problems.
c) Algorithm- problem-solving rule/procedure that when followed step by step assures that a correct solution will be
found.
d) Heuristics- general principle, “rule of the thumb” guides problem-solving but does not guarantee a correct solution.

DUPE MODEL (don’t let yourself be deceived)

1) D- determine, determining the problem
2) U- understand, understanding the problem
3) P- plan, planning a solution to the problem and what strategies will be use.
4) E- evaluate, evaluating the plan.
i) The DUPE model is created to help people to solve problems and have four elements which help to understand
and how to plan and solve a certain problem.

HAYES 7 Learning Strategies that reflect role of memory.

1) Structuring strategy- search for relation within the learning material.
2) Context Strategy- search for relationship between new materials and known materials.
3) Monitoring- teaching oneself and see what you have learned and not learned.
 4) Inferencing- asking yourself a question to evaluate yourself.
5) Instantiation- furnish an example.
6) Multiple Coding- a representation of a problem verbally and visually.
7) Attention Management- use of time effectively.

Good Problem Solver

Whimbey and Lochhead
i) Positive Attitude- can solve problems by careful, persistent analysis.
ii) Concern for Accuracy- takes pains and grasp the facts and relationship that the problem presents
iii) Habit of Breaking the problem into parts.- try to solve into parts analyze each part and then integrate.
iv) Avoidance of guessing- frequently play a hunch
v) Active Problem Solving- always in search of solution.
CREATIVITY
 -is a form of problem-solving characterized by novel, useful solutions to problems, whether artistic scientific or
practical.
 *Being creative is not identical to giftedness.
1) Elliot—Characteristics of Creative People:
a) Cognitive Skills
 cognitive elements are memory and evaluation; it is the ability to sense problems that ambiguity exists.
b) Motive-Interest
 love to manipulate ideas and are curious; enjoys challenge prefer the complex, and can tolerate uncertainty.
 like to look at things in a new way and have an intense commitment to their work.
c) Personality
 independent, inclined to take risks, resourceful adventurous and complex; excellent sense of humor.
2) Lesner and Hillman—3 stages of Change Manifested in Creative People
a) Creative Internal Enrichment (birth to 11 yrs. Old)- children develop their own distinct personalities.
b) Creative External Enrichment (12 yrs to 60 yrs. Old)- occurs transition to a more outward socially aware
orientation.
c) Creative Self Evaluation (60 yrs. Old to death)- assess life accomplishments.
3) Dacey—6 Periods in the growth of Creativity
Males
0-5 years Females
11-14 0-5 years
18-20 11-14
29-31 18-20
40-45 29-31
60- 64 40-45
 60- 64
a. For males 11-14 years and 10-13 females, Students at this range are attempting self-concepts.
b. This is the ideal time to foster creativity because these students are open to new ideas.
DECISION MAKING
1) is a form of problem solving in which one tries to make the best choice from among the alternatives or courses of
actions.
 2 factors :

(a) UTILITY- value we assign to a given alternative

(b) PROBABILITY- estimate of likehood that a given alternative will lead to a valued consequence.
Pertinent
-analyze the difficulties in individual student problem solving behavior.
Intelligence
-by giving problems not too abstract
-start with a problem leading to do something abstract so their ability would be challenged.
Motivation
- intangible encouragement
- keep the problem simple at first then gradually make it difficult.
Information
- a teacher must know the students sot that you can satisfactorily match the problems with the
students.
Experience
- if the problem solving is relatively or entirely new to a student, demonstrate and let the
practice with simple problems, then show them how it is used in similar situations.
Mindset
- allow students to look for several solutions and to test them mentally to determine which is
most feasible.
- correct students difficulties
- direct teach problems solving techniques
- given opportunities for children to solve problems
General Suggestions for Creativity to be enhanced in the Classroom. (Elliot)
1. Ensure the maternal you use to encourage creativity in the classroom matches the developmental level of the child.
2. Give children experience in doing as many different responses to a problem as possible.
a. Ex. Ask them to use newspaper, ask to come up with anything using the newspaper (Foster divergent
thinking.)
3. Ask the students to imagine, to go beyond the data.
4. Encourage your students to search for relationship.
a. Ex. Mind mapping
5. Help the students to tolerate ambiguity.