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© 2014 Pacific Crest
165
P
lan
How to complete the activity
1. Working in your groups, review the problem scenarios (Models).
2. Select one on which your team will focus.
3. Apply the Problem Solving Methodology in order to solve the problem. Use a Problem Solving
Methodology worksheet (available on the companion website).
4. Once you have solved the problem, assess your team’s use of the Problem Solving Methodology.
Use the Assessing Problem Solving worksheet.
5. Answer the Critical Thinking Questions.
6. Complete the remainder of this activity (from Demonstrate Your Understanding through Assessing
Your Performance) on your own, or as directed by your instructor.
M
odel(s)
Exemplars and representations
P
roblem
S
cenario
1: I
s
S
pring
B
reak
B
roken
?
You’re taking a required course and have an exam coming up right after Spring Break. The exam
counts for 50% of your grade and you MUST do very well on it in order to keep your scholarship.
Your professor has cancelled the last class meeting leaving a note on the classroom door: “Sorry, all;
I’ve been called out of town on a family emergency. Be sure to read pages 70 through 160 in your
textbook in preparation for the exam after Spring Break. See you then!” You get home and check the
reading, but 20 of the pages are actually missing from your book—something you hadn’t noticed
when you scored a great deal on used books for the semester. You call the bookstore, but the text is
out-of-stock. You don’t personally know anyone in the class, at least not well enough to have their
phone number or e-mail address. Because of your previously-made plans for Spring Break, you and
three friends are catching a plane to Cancun in just under 24 hours. The exam is scheduled for the
day after you return.
P
roblem
S
cenario
2: S
ometimes
L
ife
F
eels
L
ike
a
S
cary
M
ovie
You’re taking a road trip with friends and are actually using two vehicles. It’s fairly late at night, and
you’re driving the second vehicle, following the vehicle in front since only they know how to get to
the destination (a rented cabin beside a lake where you’ll all spend a stress-free and relaxing week,
no phones, no TV, nothing but rest, relaxation and good company). You know that you’d all agreed to
drive as far today as possible leaving most of tomorrow free for relaxing at the lake. You don’t know
how far away the lake is; it could be 5 miles, it could be 100 miles. Right now and for the last while,
it has been dark roads in unfamiliar places—no maps, no satnav. The car suddenly gives a lurch and
becomes difficult to steer; sure enough, you’ve got a flat tire. You pull to the side of the road and ask
your passenger to hand you your cell phone so you can call the folks in the other car, which has just
crested the top of a distant hill. There’s no reception on your cell phone, and it’s pitch black out there,
without another car in sight. The last gas station you passed was about 30 miles back. In checking the
trunk, you see that you have a spare tire that looks in pretty good shape, a couple of good wrenches
4.1 The Problem Solving Methodology