Problems and Problem Solving - Ministry of Education

Step 4: Look back
Having solved the problem, the importance of this step is to encourage reflection on the problem-solving
process and to verify that your answers are valid. By reflecting on the process used to
solve a problem, you take from it the lessons that would be useful when confronted with another
problem of this nature. For the Census Taker Problem, depending on what mistakes you made,
you may choose to reflect on:
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the importance of being organized in representing the information that will be used to solve
the problem;
the value of being deliberate in how the results were written down;
the need to pay attention to the language used in describing a problem; and
•y the value of just starting a problem by writing down, organising and exploring what you
already know.
The verification of answers involves ensuring that they are logical and reasonable with reference
to the context created in the problem. You may also want to explore your findings to see if general
principles can be abstracted.
Problem-Solving Strategies
Students engage in problem solving when they develop, select and apply strategies to obtain
solutions to tasks for which no immediate answer or solution path is known. As mentioned in
the previous section, the selection and implementation of strategies are important aspects of
the problem-solving process which students go through when they are confronted with nonroutine
tasks. While a typical, non-routine problem can be solved in a variety of ways and while
no exhaustive list of the various problem-solving approaches and strategies can be made, in this
section we will discuss some of the most popular effective strategies as well as how and when
these strategies can be applied.
Logical Reasoning
Logical reasoning involves:
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examining the problem to determine what information has been provided;
asking the right questions to determine what other information is needed; and
using the information given as well as the answers obtained to make inferences and draw
conclusions.
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