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L
EARNING
TO
L
EARN
: B
ECOMING
A
S
ELF
-G
ROWER
161
E
XPERIENCE
6: M
ETHODOLOGIES
: U
NLOCKING
P
ROCESS
K
NOWLEDGE
READING
Assessing Problem Solving
In order to improve your problem solving, it is important to step back and assess how you have worked
to solve the problem. Since Evelyn is now fairly comfortable in applying methodologies, she decided to
perform an assessment of the solution to the pizza problem. Read over her comments.
Table 3
Assessing Performance in Problem Solving
Performance Criteria
Strengths
Areas for Improvement
Insights
Statement of the Problem
clarity
appropriate scope
conciseness
accurate
Concise and clear
None
Key Issues
clarity
any irrelevant issues?
any non-important issues?
any missing issues?
are they specific enough?
Specific
None
Identifying key issues
is an important step!
Assessing Information
is irrelevant info removed?
organized
defined unknowns
defined knowns
prior knowledge needed
Information given
is helpful.
Irrelevant info
about number
of slices was
removed.
Could have identified
unknowns & prior
knowledge needed more
clearly. Could have explained
more why number of slices
was not relevant.
I would have looked
at the number of
slices!
Key Assumptions
any irrelevant?
can be researched/tested
clarity
Clear
These will sometimes
take time to identify.
Breaking the Problem Apart
appropriate number of components
clean separation into parts
Quality of Models
number of issues incorporated
simplicity
expandability
Not very expandable
Generalizing the Solution
understand the limits
applied to new situations
I never thought
of this way to
compare prices!
Presentation of the Solution
clarity
all components included
processes documented
assessment of the solution
Short and sweet
Not the strongest validation
As you can see, using a methodology is especially important for solving real-world problems which do not
come with all the necessary information neatly packaged, with an example problem to follow, or with a
“right” answer to look up in the back of a book. In fact, there may be many possible solutions. The sample