Problem solving, conceptual

Rumsey JM (1985) Conceptual problem-solving in highly verbal, non-retarded autistic men. J Autism Devel Disord 15 23-36. 

One of the great rewards of studying chemistry is to become a good problem solver. Being able to solve complex problems is a talent that will serve you well in all walks of life. It is our purpose in this text to help you learn to solve problems in a flexible, creative way based on understanding the fundamental ideas of chemistry. We call this approach conceptual problem solving. 

Phelps (1996) studied an intervention based on an emphasis on conceptual problem-solving. Much of the power of her study results from the fact that she implemented this technique in both a general chemistry course for science majors and a course for nursing and liberal arts students. Many of the same tasks were used in both courses. The very different responses these tasks elicited from the two groups of students were striking. Throughout the semester, the science majors were less willing to interact and ponder the problem at hand. 

Consider, for example, that you now know how to get from home to work. Does this mean that you can drive from work to home Not necessarily, as you probably know from experience. If you have only memorized the directions from home to work and do not understand fundamental principles such as "I traveled north to get to the workplace, so my house is south of the workplace," you may find yourself stranded. Part of conceptual problem solving is understanding these fundamental principles. 

Of course, there are many more places to go than from home to work and back. In a more complicated example, suppose you know how to get from your house to work (and back) and from your house to the library (and back). Can you get from work to the library without having to go back home Probably not, if you have only memorized directions and you do not have a "big picture" of where your house, your workplace, and the library are relative to one another. Getting this big picture—a real understanding of the situation—is the other part of conceptual problem solving. 

In conceptual problem solving, we let the problem guide us as we solve it. We ask a series of questions as we proceed and use our knowledge of fundamental principles to answer these questions. Learning this approach requires some patience, but the reward is that you become an effective solver of any new problem that confronts you in daily life or in your work in any field. 

Let s look at how conceptual problem solving works in practice. Because we used a driving analogy before, let s consider a problem about driving. 

Problem-Solving Approach in Examples Using the general conceptual problem-solving approach outlined in the new Section 8.4, we have introduced a series of questions into the in-chapter Examples. This more active approach helps students think their way through the solution to the problem. We use this approach for most of the quantitative Examples beginning in Section 8.4. 

Nurrenbem and Pickering s study was not designed to examine these whys and hows. Rather, the quantitative design of their research study provided convincing statistical evidence that a problem existed in the first place, i.e., that a difference between algorithmic and conceptual problem solving existed. 

This question involves conceptual problem solving. We need to look at questions like this from the perspective of asldng what molecular level information must be inferred to answer it. Then we need to ask, what are the implications of understanding at the molecular level to answer part (b). 

This question is another example of conceptual problem solving. We have seen three types of chemical bonding in this chapter, and from the observable behavior of this experiment, we need to infer which one is important in the unknown solid. The other piece of information we need to include involves what allows a solution to conduct electricity, as discussed in Chapter 3. 

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