Stages of Problem Solving

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Given - an inital siutation

Problem - a given where it is not immediatley

Goal - a desired outcome

Resources - things that can be used to reach a goal and impose constraints

Understanding a problem - turning an ill-defined problem into a well-defined stated clearly and unambiguosly

A well-defined problem has four compenents. Givens, resources and contraints, a goal, and ownership

Defining boundaries - establishing the limits or rules about what can and cannot be done when solving a problem. These limits are a type of contraint.

Lateral thinking - used to challenge assuptions, establish facts and rules and define the bounaires of problem solving

Top - down design - breaks a problem into smaller problems that are easier to work on

Module - a self-contained entiy that results when a problem is divied into subproblems; each module corresponds to a subproblem

Step wise refinment - the process of breaking a problem down through succesive steps into smaller problem

Structure table - an intended, numbered list of steps produced by stepwise refinment

Problem Solving