Your Resources Know Where You Will Start
In our previous episode of Problems as Homework, P. A. Rant began helping the child with Lesson 3 of elementary problem solving: The Who of Solutions. And the child immediately saw ahead to the next step: “I don’t know where to start.”
The Vulcan in P. A.’s brain was about to say: “It does not matter where you start. What matters is where you finish.” But the Empath module knew that the child did not need deep insights at this point. The child needed a place to start. So P. A. added to the Semi-Structured Brainstorming paper on the wall a new box. Label: RESOURCES
P. A. “Your first layer of resources is whatever can tell you how other people have handled the problem of homework. That may point you to other resources.”
P. A. expects that the child will eventually list teachers, adults, classmates, parents and older children in school. Perhaps the child will also list the web, but the child will need help and supervision on this. P. A. expects to be available as a resource to help explore the web.
By now you will have seen that the main story of problem solving is translation from the language of complaints to the language of action. You will also have noticed that this translation brings on a growing sense that the solution will take effort. This is a discovery people make many times over.
Here, then, is a summary of the first five lessons in elementary problem-solving.
Look at the goal, not the problem.
Translate complaints into goals.
The only who is you.
You will start with your resources.
If it were easy, you would have already done it.
That’s all I can think of to say about problem-solving at the beginner’s level. The Thinkerer offers specific resources about problem-solving and about studying. That’s in case you want to start with your resources.
The Vulcan in P. A.’s brain was about to say: “It does not matter where you start. What matters is where you finish.” But the Empath module knew that the child did not need deep insights at this point. The child needed a place to start. So P. A. added to the Semi-Structured Brainstorming paper on the wall a new box. Label: RESOURCES
P. A. “Your first layer of resources is whatever can tell you how other people have handled the problem of homework. That may point you to other resources.”
P. A. expects that the child will eventually list teachers, adults, classmates, parents and older children in school. Perhaps the child will also list the web, but the child will need help and supervision on this. P. A. expects to be available as a resource to help explore the web.
By now you will have seen that the main story of problem solving is translation from the language of complaints to the language of action. You will also have noticed that this translation brings on a growing sense that the solution will take effort. This is a discovery people make many times over.
Here, then, is a summary of the first five lessons in elementary problem-solving.
Look at the goal, not the problem.
Translate complaints into goals.
The only who is you.
You will start with your resources.
If it were easy, you would have already done it.
That’s all I can think of to say about problem-solving at the beginner’s level. The Thinkerer offers specific resources about problem-solving and about studying. That’s in case you want to start with your resources.
posted by Selby Evans at 12:04 PM
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