Problem solving

Students often do not see a common tread in how problems are solved. Real-time formative assessment can be used to illustrate the unity of this topic simply by asking "how would you solve this problem?" or "outline the steps in solving this problem?"

It may be necessary to add "Do not fill in the details of the solution." Students are too often focussed on finding a numerical answer rather than in understanding the concepts. It may be difficult to change this mindset. One way to do this is for some exam questions to be in this same format. Advantages are

1. students better understand how to approach a new problem.
2. grade is easier since you don't have to sort through mistakes made on details.

However, to become a proficient problem solver student must be able to both understand how to approach a problem and how to follow through on the details needed for an answer.