 |
| Review and Consolidate Your Work |
Review and Consolidate Your Work
Finally, it is important to document the methods you used, and the solution that you obtained.
When your problem solving efforts are well documented, you are prepared to apply what you have learned to future efforts. This is particularly true for students. It is not enough to solve a problem and obtain the ‘right answer’. You also need to think about how you solved that problem and how you might use those same methods on similar problems in the future. Without this type of consolidation, little learning takes place and every new problem has to be solved again from scratch.
Often a solution by itself is not sufficient. You may also have to convince others that your solution actually works and that it is the best, fastest, most practical, most economical, or most environmentally friendly approach. You may have to defend your solution and demonstrate that any funds were spent properly, that it represents your own work, that safety rules were followed, or that the laws of the land were not broken.
You may also want to examine your solution to determine if it provides any new insights, or a better understanding of the general situation.
You should also consider the implications and ramifications of your solution. Sometimes a solution to one problem can create other problems that are more serious than the original. You can buy the biggest, most comfortable sofa in the store but if you do not have enough space for it in your current home, you have created another problem. You can kill all the weeds and then find that nothing else will grow either.
You can build an expressway to relieve traffic and end up facilitating the abandonment of the city core as more people move to the suburbs.
Starting about 1980 and continuing for most of a decade, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States supplied funding, training, and weapons to Muslim extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The objective was assist in the overthrow of the Soviet-backed government in Afghanistan. The strategy worked – but it also led to the creation of the Taliban and Al Queda movements, which soon became enemies of the United States.
Finally, it is important to document the methods you used, and the solution that you obtained.
When your problem solving efforts are well documented, you are prepared to apply what you have learned to future efforts. This is particularly true for students. It is not enough to solve a problem and obtain the ‘right answer’. You also need to think about how you solved that problem and how you might use those same methods on similar problems in the future. Without this type of consolidation, little learning takes place and every new problem has to be solved again from scratch.
Often a solution by itself is not sufficient. You may also have to convince others that your solution actually works and that it is the best, fastest, most practical, most economical, or most environmentally friendly approach. You may have to defend your solution and demonstrate that any funds were spent properly, that it represents your own work, that safety rules were followed, or that the laws of the land were not broken.
You may also want to examine your solution to determine if it provides any new insights, or a better understanding of the general situation.
You should also consider the implications and ramifications of your solution. Sometimes a solution to one problem can create other problems that are more serious than the original. You can buy the biggest, most comfortable sofa in the store but if you do not have enough space for it in your current home, you have created another problem. You can kill all the weeds and then find that nothing else will grow either.
You can build an expressway to relieve traffic and end up facilitating the abandonment of the city core as more people move to the suburbs.
Starting about 1980 and continuing for most of a decade, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States supplied funding, training, and weapons to Muslim extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The objective was assist in the overthrow of the Soviet-backed government in Afghanistan. The strategy worked – but it also led to the creation of the Taliban and Al Queda movements, which soon became enemies of the United States.
