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READING
E
XPERIENCE
6: M
ETHODOLOGIES
: U
NLOCKING
P
ROCESS
K
NOWLEDGE
152
L
EARNING
TO
L
EARN
: B
ECOMING
A
S
ELF
-G
ROWER
Persisting
—continuing despite difficulties
Prioritizing
—addressing what is most important
Transferring
—using ideas in a new context
Using prior knowledge
–integrating unprompted knowledge
Validating
–using alternative methods to test results
From this list, find three skills that are your strengths and identify two skills you want to improve:
Skills that are
my strengths:
1.
2.
3.
Skills I want
to improve:
1.
2.
How do your problem solving skill strengths influence how you deal with problems? In what ways are your
skill weaknesses keeping you from being able to successfully solve problems? Strong problem solvers are
able to apply the skills they have while consistently working to improve skills at which they are less adept.
Though growth in these skill areas won’t make your life problem-free, it
will
enable you to face problems
and challenges with confidence and the best possible set of problem solving skills.
Applying Your Skills to the Problem
Based on the skills you selected as strengths and areas for improvement, revisit the problem that you
outlined earlier. Howmight you better take advantage of your strengths as you work to solve your problem?
And how might improving the skills you identified as needing improvement help you work towards a
solution to your problem?
Evelyn knows she is strong at
transferring
(she can imagine her possible
future situations well enough to write an accurate “pros and cons” list) and
exploring context
(she can see herself as a teacher in her community and
maybe a business woman in her community, too). Evelyn is also good at
managing resources
(her decision to attend school is to help ensure a
stronger financial future for her family). On the other hand, she can be shy,
so she knows she needs to work on
inquiring
, or getting up the courage
to ask her advisor and other key figures in her life questions when she
needs to. Evelyn admits that she’s been intimidated by the question of
what major to declare and what career to pursue, so she hasn’t demonstrated
much
curiosity
about what additional information might be most helpful as
she considers her options.