Employers, college presidents, faculty, and students demonstrate remarkable consensus that problem solving is one of the most important outcomes of a college education (Bok, 2017; Hart Research Associates, 2015; Hora, Benbow, Oleson, 2016; Passow & Passow, 2017). At the time of this newsletter, there were 28 courses offered this year that included the words “problem*” and “solving” in Courses@Brown. Course descriptions ranged from focusing on how to apply techniques or skills, to solving problems, to tackling common problems encountered in the field, and concepts that included “problems” within their title. There are undoubtedly more courses that implicitly and explicitly focus on problem solving across campus. In light of this emphasis, it is important to ask, “What is a problem and what is problem solving?” and “How do I foster problem-solving skills in my course?” and eventually, "How will I be explicit about problem solving in my course and course description?" Although problem solving is often associated with STEM courses, this newsletter offers perspectives and teaching approaches from across the disciplines.

Problems and problem solving may be context and discipline specific, but the concept and process have overarching components and similarities across contexts. Jonassen (2000, p. 65) defines a problem as an “unknown entity in some situation (the difference between a goal state and a current state)” such that “finding or solving for the unknown must have some social, cultural, or intellectual value.”  Within courses, students may encounter a wide variety of current (e.g., a problem statement) and goal (e.g., a solution) states with different motivations for solving them. Students will be exposed to “well-structured” problems at one end of the spectrum, which have a typical solution path and solution, and “ill-structured” problems, which are highly context dependent and have no one solution path (Jonassen, 2000).

Problem solving is a “goal-oriented” process that includes creating and manipulating problems as mental models (Jonassen, 2000). Brown faculty from a variety of disciplines were interviewed by Sheridan staff and asked, “What skills do students need to problem solve effectively?” They responded that students need to be able to do the following:

• Reason, observe, and recognize patterns
• Use current information to understand the past
• Know how to break complex problems down into smaller, more manageable components
• Make connections between concepts and disciplines
• Creatively think of multiple solution paths

These skills, among others, target the following problem-solving steps (Pretz, Naples, & Sternbergy, 2003):

1. Recognize or identify a problem
2. Define and represent the problem mentally
3. Develop a solution strategy
4. Organize your knowledge about the problem
5. Allocate mental and physical resources for solving the problem
6. Monitor your progress toward the goal
7. Evaluate the solution for accuracy

Problem solving is an iterative process, and as such, these steps do not necessarily progress in a linear fashion. When creating homework assignments, projects, exams, etc., it is helpful to identify the specific skills you want students to practice, the strategies they should use, and how you will evaluate the solutions they produce.

Instructors can signpost the problem-solving skills students should develop in their courses by adapting existing problem sets to fit recommendations from the Transparency in Learning and Teaching Project (TILT). The process of increasing transparency in assignments includes communicating the assignment’s purpose, task, and criteria to students (Winkelmes et al., 2016):

• The purpose usually links to one learning objective for the course, the skills students will develop as a result of completing the assignment, or a real-world application that students might experience outside of your classroom. In this way, the problem you have presented to the student becomes relevant because it has “some social, cultural, or intellectual value” (Jonassen, 2000, p. 65).
• Next, the task states the strategy or strategies students should take to complete the assignment. This includes guiding students through organizing the information available to develop a strategy.
• Finally, the criteria could be a rubric or annotated examples that are given to students before the assignment is due, so they are aware of the standards for the assignment.

In one study, researchers found that in courses where at least two assignments had features of transparent assignments, students self reported increases in their academic confidence, sense of belonging, and mastery of skills, such as problem solving (Winkelmes et al., 2016). Below are examples of different skills needed for problem solving with suggestions on how you can foster these skills through adapted or new assignments and in-class exercises.

Problem solving is a necessary skill in all disciplines and one that the Sheridan Center is focusing on as part of the Brown Learning Collaborative, which provides students the opportunity to achieve new levels of excellence in six key skills traditionally honed in a liberal arts education ­– critical reading, writing, research, data analysis, oral communication, and problem solving. To help you think through how to integrate opportunities for students to problem solve effectively in your course, the Sheridan Center offers problem solving professional development opportunities for faculty and students in an effort to engage intergenerational, faculty-student teaching teams.