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Workshop: Breaking Problems Down and Putting Solutions Together (QAA 1,2,5)

Objective:

  • To provide students with an opportunity to reflect upon and identify their own skills.
  • To provide students with an opportunity to identify how each of these skills presents opportunities.
  • To improve student’s knowledge, understanding and implementation of effective problem solving strategies.
  • To encourage students to apply theoretical problem solving strategies within a real world context.

Overview:

The ability to identify solutions to problems, the creativity to identify the skills and resources needed to achieve these solutions, and the insight to identify the new opportunities these skills and resources can present are essential for the enterprising student.

Breaking Problems Down and Putting Solutions Together is a workshop designed to nurture these skills in students: presenting them with opportunities to reflect on their own skills, and think creatively about their applications, to explore and implement problem solving strategies in a variety of contexts, and to apply the above to real-world contexts, in their own lives and their own enterprises.

The workshop is designed to last for approximately 90 minutes, with ample opportunities for extension activities, further research and discussion. The workshop is suitable for a group of any size, through best works where space is available for students to engage in practical activities.

No preparation is required from students, and preparation time for workshop leaders in minimal (ensuring AV presentation is working correctly, ensuring basic materials for practical / extension activities have been sourced etc.).

An AV presentation, and full lesson plan, to accompany the delivery of this workshop is freely available online, and can be downloaded via the links provided in the Resources / References section of this document.

Activity:

(See Resources / References for materials to accompany the delivery of this activity).

Part 1: Introduction

  • Students are introduced to the themes to be covered during the workshop.
  • As a warm up / ice breaker activity, a simple, practical challenge may be set to students at this point (For example – challenging students to cut a whole in a piece of A4 paper which is large enough to climb though – something which can be done with some lateral thinking!).
  • The group discuss what businesses do, at the most basic level. I.e. provide products and services to meet the needs of customers. It is proposed that we may think of ‘needs’ as ‘problems’ for our purposes, and so can think of businesses as ‘problem solvers’ of various guises.
  • Students are instructed that the workshop will be delivered in reverse order, i.e. Putting Solutions Together first, and Breaking Problems Down second (for good reason!).

Part 2: Identifying Skills

  • Students are asked to list all the skills they feel that they have. Several examples may be offered to the group to stimulate thought. Students may do this alone, or confer with their colleagues.
  • Students are invited to be bold (i.e. not too modest) in this process, and are invited to share their ideas with the whole group.
  • The amount of skills possessed by each individual, and by the group as a whole, is stressed.

Part 3: Skills to Products

  • Students are asked to consider each skill on their list, and for each skill consider what it allows them to do, i.e. a service it allows them to deliver,or a product it allow them to produce. (For example, skills in painting may help me to produce portraits, make prints and postcards, or tutor a person in art).
  • Again, students may work as individuals, or confer whilst doing this, and again, students are asked to share their thoughts with the whole group.
  • As students share ideas, a full list of products and solutions can be noted at the front of the class, demonstrating the products and services at the group’s disposal.
  • It is suggested to students that these products and services are the basis of solutions to countless problems, and the basis for countless new opportunities.

Part 4: Real World Example

  • Students are offered a real world example, where a focus on creativity and solutions (as opposed to problems) has led to a novel and unexpected outcome to a problem.
  • Contained within the AV presentation linked to this workshop, is a short film clip of Physicist Richard Feynman, discussing the story of how he came to win his Nobel Prize, and develop QED, in this very way!

Part 5: Breaking Problems Down

  • Students discuss the nature of problems (Are they fundamentals, or can large problems be broken down into smaller problems?).
  • Students are presented with an example of a ‘difficult problem.’
  • Contained within the AV presentation accompanying this workshop, is an example question from a job interview for a position with Google.
  • To be solved, the problem must be broken down into a series of smaller, simpler problems. The group are invited to do this, and an answer to the problem is proposed as a group.
  • If time permits, further activities may be offered at this stage (see How To Guides for inspiration on problem solving challenges).

Part 6: Problem Solving in a Real World Context

  • Students are asked to reflect on a problem they have encountered (this can be something as basic as needing to meet an upcoming essay deadline, or something more substantial).
  • Students are asked to take this problem, and break it down as far as possible, into a series of smaller problems.
  • Students are asked to reflect on the services and products they earlier identified as being at their disposal, and see how each provides a solution to each of these smaller problems, reflecting on any gaps.
  • If desired, students may wish to share the examples they produce at this stage.

Part 7: Conclusion

  • The group reflect on the merits of breaking problems down, and focussing on the solutions at their disposal, as a problem solving strategy.
  • The key themes covered in the session are re-capped.

Skill Development:

Through participating in the workshop, students will be better adept at identifying their own skills, and seeing how these skills can be applied, in a wide variety of contexts, to solve problems and create opportunities. The will be better adept at breaking down and categorizing problems they encounter, and producing strategies to solve them quickly and efficiently. Through reflecting upon, documenting, and sharing their skills, abilities and the solutions at their disposal, they should have greater confidence in their capabilities, and better equipped to identify the specific areas of their skills set which they wish to develop.

Resources:

References:

Zone Enterprise Hub, Topic: ZONE Resources. 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: https://moodle.glyndwr.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=37§ion=11. [Accessed 30 July 2015].

Author:

  • Originally delivered as an ‘Empower’ workshop, for the North East Wales Youth Entrepreneurship (YES) Hub, funded by Welsh Government.

Associated Case Studies

Author / Attribution

This guide was produced by Mike Corcoran (www.macorcoran.com). If you would like to contact the author, please use this email address:- m.a.corcoran@outlook.com.