Miriam,
I use a lot of case studies with my students to help them with developing analytical skills. The value of the case studies is that I or someone in my field has experienced the situation outlined in the study. So the students get to analyze and then propose solutions. When they have completed their work we then get to go through the case again and see how it was revolved so they get to check their solutions against final solution. This way they grow their skill sets in reflective thinking problem analysis.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Go through examples with your students. Work as a group to recognize, analyze, and select solutions to problems. Doing more than just asking your students to solve problems will help them.
Erin,
Small group activities are great for both the development of problem solving skills as well as helping students to learn how to work with different personalities. Both of these skills will be needed when they are out in the work world.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
In my class I like to have students work on problems in groups as well as at the end as a class. Small groups give specific ideas and the larger group can then analyze the solutions and potential problems each may present. It helps others see their classmates views and start to see potential patterns to follow when say looking at patients. They develop step by step procedures to follow but also learn that thinking outside their comfort zone has the potential for great results/solutions.
Karen,
Your last sentence says it all. The majority of us spend our professional lives problem solving and to be successful we need to be able to think critically about options and solutions. If we are successful then our careers will develop.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I would say that active learning is a great way to facilitate development of analytical skills in students. Once students are asked to complete a task in a small group - such as look at a case study and come up with an analysis and possible solutions - they begin to exercise their innate analytical skills while practicing collaboration and problem-solving. This is great practice for real life!
Daniel,
You make a very good point and one that needs to be considered as one plans activities that will expand the expertise of students in the areas of problem solving and critical thinking.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I agree with the others that giving "optimal challenge" group problem solving tasks is the way to go. It is hard to select or formulate "optimal challenge" problems if your student population is diverse in their experience in the topics. I often find one student dominates unless I take them out by asking them to yield to the others.
Also, this does take time and is hard in "coverage" courses, where the material is considerable.
I agree with Richard Newton's post in that adult learners may benefit from small group settings. This tends to allow different intelligences to learn analyzation and set examples for the other team members to consider. A common discussion amongst groups such as these often results in one or more of the team members proclaiming "I never thought about it that way before". More brain power applied, with generally different viewpoints. This exposure to alternate versions of analysis expedites a more complete understanding of the process. Given more experience within a group, an individual student will often expand his or her analytical skills faster than when they are working outside of a group setting.
Richard,
Good advice for instructors that want to expand critical thinking opportunities in their instruction. Using different learning formats, such as small groups and case studies help to provide different learning experiences for the students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Use of practical exercises of increasing complexity in the classroom. This allows/encourages the students to take what was taught and then apply the lessons in structured problem-solving exercises. For adults, this method is best done in a small-group environment, where the adult learners can question and increase their understanding in a more personal environment, learn from their peers, and have the support of their peers and instructors as they learn from mis-steps in their analytical skills.
