In our new area, the education landscape has change dramastically vis-à-vis teaching and learning. And in order for us to meet the new demands of the global community, the paradigm shift in which new problems have evolved whuich lead to the opening of more complex problems it is relevant that we engaged students in a problem solving approach to teaching and learning. But What is Problem Solving? According to Mayer and Wittrock, problem solving is “cognitive processing directed at achieving a goal when no solution method is obvious to the problem solver” (2006, p. 287). This definition consists of four parts: (1) problem solving is cognitive, that is, problem solving occurs within the problem solver's cognitive system and can only be inferred from the problem solver's behavior, (2) problem solving is a process, that is, problem solving involves applying cognitive processes to cognitive representations in the problem solver's cognitive system, (3) problem solving is directed, that is, problem solving is guided by the problem solver's goals, and (4) problem solving is personal, that is, problem solving depends on the knowledge and skill of the problem solver. In sum, problem solving is cognitive processing directed at transforming a problem from the given state to the goal state when the problem solver is not immediately aware of a solution method. For example, problem solving occurs when a high school student writes a convincing essay on the causes of the American Civil War, understands how the heart works from reading a biology textbook, or solves a complex arithmetic word problem (Mayer and Merlin, 1969)
They further agrued that “Finally, creative thinking and critical thinking refer to specific aspects of problem solving, respectively. Creative thinking involves generating alternatives that meet some criteria, such as listing all the possible uses for a brick, whereas critical thinking involves evaluating how well various alternatives meet some criteria, such as determining which are the best answers for the brick problem. For example, in scientific problem solving situations, creative thinking is involved in generating hypotheses and critical thinking is involved in testing them. Creative thinking and critical thinking can be involved in reasoning and decision making.”
