Page 141 - Foundations of Learning, 4th Edition (Revised)

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, or 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
problems you’ve seen in this chapter so far have been quantitative: that is, they have been numbers-based.
Not all problems are quantitative, though, so here’s a problem without numbers. The following qualitative
problem is fairly common—finding an address or location for the first time.

Problem Solving Example: Scenario: You live in Albany, NY and your friend has

Feeling a Little Lost invited you to visit her in Syracuse, NY. She’s given you
the address of her house and you’ve printed out detailed

point-to-point driving directions from Yahoo!® maps. Unfortunately, as you stop for gas approximately 15

miles from her house, you receive a text message on your cell phone: “Leaving the house now; meet me at

Charley’s instead.” When you try to phone your friend for directions to “Charley’s,” you hear an automatic

message which informs you that the party you are trying to reach has turned off their phone.

Step Explanation

1 Define the You need to meet your friend, but don’t know what or where “Charley’s” is (you don’t
problem know anyone in Syracuse named “Charley”).

2 Identify key issues You need to find out what “Charley’s” is so that you can figure out how to get there.

3 Collect data and You’re at a gas station, so you know you can purchase a map of the area. The station
information has a phone book that you can use as you try to figure out what Charley’s is. You can
also ask if the clerk knows what/where Charley’s is.

4 Identify You’re assuming that there’s little point to continuing trying to reach your friend’s cell
assumptions phone. Because she lives alone, you know that phoning her house will do no good.
You’ve also decided to assume, unless you learn differently, that Charley’s refers to a
business of some sort, rather than a person’s house.

5 Break the First, you need to determine what Charley’s is. Then you can potentially look it up in a
problem apart phone book to get an address and phone number. You can either ask for directions to
get there from the gas station, or you can buy a map that may help.

6 Model sub- You look through the phone book and sure enough, Charley’s is a bistro. There is an
problems address and phone number listed. (The phone number gives you an additional idea; if
you’re unable to figure out how to get there, you could always phone Charley’s and ask
to have your friend paged. That will at least put you back in contact with her.) The address
doesn’t help you yet, as it’s not part of your driving directions. You pay for your fuel and
purchase a map of the area, and decide to ask the clerk if he is familiar with “Charley’s”.
He says, “Yeah. It’s about 8 miles west of here...great food.”

7 Integrate You have your map and can see the street signs for the intersection where the gas station
solutions is located. You now know where you are, on the map. You use the map index to locate the
street Charley’s is on. Sure enough, it’s about 8 miles away. You further note the location
of your friend’s house on the map; Charley’s appears to be right on your way to her house.
With the route to Charley’s in mind, you set off again.

8 Test and validate You find Charley’s Bistro without further problems. Your friend is there, waiting for you!

9 Generalize the These same steps can be applied the next time you find yourself having to locate a new
solution business or location and you don’t have driving directions. Between using the phone
book and the map, you did well!

10 Communicate the Charley’s was great, so you’ve sent an e-mail to a couple of other friends in Albany,

solution recommending they visit Charley’s the next time they go to Syracuse. Your e-mail

includes driving directions, a link to a map, and the URL for the bistro’s website.

Chapter 5 — Problem Solving Skills 135