Discover Problem Solving
There are many ways to solve a problem, try using some of these approaches in the discovery zone:
- Divide and conquer - divide the problem into multiple smaller problems, making it easier to contemplate and solve.
- Hill climbing - start at the beginning of a problem and solve it bit
by bit, with each solution moving closer to solving the bigger problem. - Trial and error - keep trying different approaches.
- Spatial reasoning - used when dealing with problems of shapes in three dimensions.
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Rolling Balls
Can you make a track for the ball that lasts fifteen seconds?
Try using the technique of “hill climbing” to solve this problem. By thinking about each part of the track as a separate problem (such as the length of each piece of track, or how you catch the ball at the end) you can make the overall problem less overwhelming.
Make a slight slope from one side of the board all the way to the other. How can you get the ball to turn back in the other direction?
We use the ‘hill climbing’ technique to problem solving every day. When you get up in the morning the problem is going to school. Instead of looking at the whole problem, we break it down into more manageable pieces, like getting dressed and eating breakfast. How many problems do you solve before you get to school?
When using the activities in the discovery zone remember to:
- Predict: What do you think will happen?
- Experiment: Test the activity
- Conclude: What did happen?
- Investigate: How could you change the experiment to get a different outcome?