ABSTRACT
This chapter presents teachers with some suggestions for improving problemsolving attitudes. We question the commonly held notion that the role of the teacher should be to "give" specific factual information to passive students. We liken learning problem-solving skills to learning a physical skill, such as riding a bicycle. Because this learning requires much active practice, we present the notion that the role of the teacher should be not only to present information but more important to provide appropriate practice, motivation, and feedback. We conclude with some specific characteristics and attitudes of productive problem solvers that teachers might attempt to instill in students by using our suggestions.
Some educators emphasize that one goal of education should be to produce students who are both good thinkers and good problem solvers. These educators believe students should be taught how to solve problems they have never encountered before. Students therefore must be able to identify and classify problems and to restructure and transfer knowledge and skills to new situations. Unfortunately, there has been little research that validates any method of instruction designed to accomplish this. There is little evidence that general problem-solving skills have been taught effectively. As Rubinstein (1979) put it, "Often our solutions apply to problems that do not arise, and we are confronted with problems for which we have no solutions."
