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Learning by solving solved problems

Article · December 2012

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Random Thoughts . . .

LEARNING BY SOLVING
SOLVED PROBLEMS
Rebecca Brent
Education Designs, Inc.
Richard M. Felder

S
North Carolina State University
ee if this one sounds familiar. You work through an A powerful alternative to traditional lectures and readings
example in a lecture or tell the students to read it in is to have students go through complete or partially worked-
their textbook, then assign a similar but not identical out derivations and examples in class, explaining them step-
problem for homework. Many students act as though they by-step to one another. One format for this technique is an
never saw anything like it in their lives, and if pressed they active-learning structure called Thinking-Aloud Pair Problem
will claim they never did. It is easy to conclude—as many Solving, or TAPPS.[1,2] It goes like this.
faculty members do—that the students must be incompetent, 1. Prepare a handout containing the derivation or solved
lazy, or incapable of reading. problem to be analyzed and have the students pick up a
A few of our students may be guilty of those things, but copy when they come in to class. Tell them to form into
pairs (if the class has an odd number of students, have
something else is behind their apparent inability to do more
one team of three) and designate one member of each
than rote memorization of material in lectures and readings. pair as A and one as B (plus one as C in the trio).
The problem with lectures is that it’s impossible for most
people to learn much from a bad one, while if the lecturer is 2. When they’ve done that, tell them that initially A will be
meticulous and communicates well, everything seems clear: the explainer and B (and C) will be the questioner(s).
the hard parts and easy parts look the same; each step seems
to follow logically and inevitably from the previous one; and Rebecca Brent is an education consultant
the students have no clue about the hard thinking required to specializing in faculty development for ef-
fective university teaching, classroom and
work out the flawless derivation or solution going up on the computer-based simulations in teacher
board or projection screen. Only when they confront the need education, and K-12 staff development in
language arts and classroom management.
to do something similar on an assignment do they realize how She codirects the ASEE National Effective
much of what they saw in class they completely missed. Teaching Institute and has published articles
on a variety of topics including writing in un-
It’s even worse when an instructor tells students to read the dergraduate courses, cooperative learning,
text, fantasizing that they will somehow understand all they public school reform, and effective university
teaching.
read. There are two flaws in this scenario. Many technical texts
were not written to make things clear to students as much as
Richard M. Felder is Hoechst Celanese
Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering
to impress potential faculty adopters with their rigor, so they at North Carolina State University. He is co-
are largely incomprehensible to the average student and are author of Elementary Principles of Chemical
Processes (Wiley, 2005) and numerous
generally ignored. On the other hand, if a text was written with articles on chemical process engineering
students in mind and presents things clearly and logically, we and engineering and science education,
and regularly presents workshops on ef-
are back to the first scenario—the students read it like a novel, fective college teaching at campuses and
everything looks clear, and they fail to engage in the intel- conferences around the world. Many of his

lectual activity required for real understanding to occur.

publications can be seen at <www.ncsu.
edu/effective_teaching

© Copyright ChE Division of ASEE 2012

Chemical Engineering Education, 46(1), 29-30, Winter 2012

 The explainers will explain a portion of the handout on superficial details of the solutions rather than trying to
to the questioners, line-by-line, step-by-step, and the really understand them. They may learn how to solve nearly
questioners will (a) ask questions (if the explainers say identical problems that way, but even moderate changes can
anything incorrect or confusing), (b) prompt the ex- stop them cold.
plainers to keep talking (if they fall silent), and (c) give
hints (if the explainers are stuck). If both members of a Sweller and Cooper[3] and Ambrose et al.[4] report studies
pair are stuck, they raise their hands and the instructor showing that students are indeed better at solving new prob-
comes over and helps. The second function is based on lems when they have first gone through worked-out examples
the fact that vocalizing one’s thinking about a problem in the manner described. When they have to explain a solution
sometimes leads to the solution. to a classmate, their cognitive load is dramatically reduced
3. The students first individually read the description of because they don’t have to figure out every trivial detail in
the formula or model to be derived or the statement of every step—most of the details are right there in front of them.
the problem to be solved; then the explainers explain it Instead, they have to figure out why the steps are executed the
in detail to the questioners and the questioners ask ques- way they are, which helps them understand the key features
tions, keep the explainers talking, and offer hints when of the problem and the underlying principles. The effect is
necessary. Give the class 2–3 minutes for this activity. even greater if they are given contrasting problems that look
4. Stop the students when the allotted time has elapsed, similar but have underlying structural differences, such as a
randomly call on several of them to answer questions mechanics problem easily solved using Newton’s laws and a
about the description or problem statement they just similar one better approached using conservation of energy.
went through, and call for volunteers if additional Having to explain why the two problems were solved in dif-
responses are desired. Add your own explanations and ferent ways helps equip the students to transfer their learning
elaborations (you’re still teaching here). Then have the to new problems.
pairs reverse roles and work through the first part of
the derivation or problem solution in the same manner. Give it a try. Pick a tough worked-out derivation or solved
When results are obtained that are not in the handout, problem, and instead of droning through it on PowerPoint
write them on the board so everyone can see and copy slides, put it on a handout—perhaps leaving some gaps to be
them. Proceed in this alternating manner through the filled in by the students—and work through it as a TAPPS
entire derivation or solution. exercise. Before you do it for the first time, read Reference
After going through this exercise, the students really un- 2, note the common mistakes that reduce the effectiveness of
derstand what they worked through because they explained active learning (such as making activities too long or calling
it to each other, and if they had trouble with a tricky or con- for volunteers after each one), and avoid making them. After
ceptually difficult step they got clarification in minutes. Now several such exercises, watch for positive changes in your
when they tackle the homework they will have had practice students’ performance on homework and tests and in their
and feedback on the hard parts, and the homework will go attitudes toward the class. Unless a whole lot of research is
much more smoothly for most of them than it ever does after wrong, you will see them.
a traditional lecture.
References
Cognitive science provides an explanation for the effective-
1. Lochhead, J., and A. Whimbey, “Teaching Analytical Reasoning
ness of this technique.[3,4] Experts have developed cognitive Through Thinking-Aloud Pair Problem Solving,” in J. E. Stice (Ed.),
structures that enable them to classify problems in terms of Developing Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Abilities: New
the basic principles they involve and to quickly retrieve appro- Directions for Teaching and Learning, No. 30. San Francisco: Jossey-
priate solution strategies, much the way expert chess players Bass (1987)
2. Felder, R.M., and R. Brent, “Active Learning: An Introduction,”
can quickly plan a sequence of moves when they encounter ASQ Higher Education Brief, 2(4), August 2009, <http://www.ncsu.
a particular type of position. Novices—like most of our edu/felder-public/Papers/ALpaper(ASQ).pdf>, accessed 11/1/2011
students—don’t have those structures, and so they have the 3. Sweller, J., and G.A. Cooper, “The Use of Worked Examples as a
heavy cognitive load of having to figure out how and where Substitute for Problem Solving in Learning Algebra,” Cognition and
Instruction, 2, 59-89 (1985)
to start and what to do next after every single step. Faced with 4. Ambrose, S.A., M.W. Bridges, M. DiPietro, M.C. Lovett, and M.K.
this burden, they frantically scour their lecture notes and texts Norman, How Learning Works: 7 Research-based Principles for Smart
for examples resembling the assigned problems and focus Teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (2010) p

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30 Chemical Engineering Education

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