Problem-finding!

This is a true twenty-first century skill

In cognitive science there is the concept of ‘problem finding’ which uses a range of cognitive tools such as relevance realisation (perceiving what features are important to consider in a cognitive landscape), insight, zooming in and out, and re-framing to formulate problems in ways that make a solution possible.

Problems may present to us – often the things we resolve day-to-day – but the important problems are often not yet formulated as problems and thus cannot have solutions.

Problem finding is the capacity to formulate not-yet-recognised problems in forms in which they can be solved.

The goal of an experienced problem-finder is to uncover a ‘problem nexus’ which is a problem that, if solved, solves a range of other problems – both recognised and unrecognised - at the same time.

This is like a highway authority building a link road and suddenly all the traffic in the surrounding area flows freely, few motorists realising that a single change somewhere in the system would solve their local bottleneck.

In my latest book, Why We Teach, a previously unrecognised problem is defined, and a solution proposed which also resolves a range of known problems that are currently seen to be unsolvable.  One such recognised problem is student motivation, and another is rising levels of anxiety and depression in schools.

Problem-finding sounds like a good twenty-first century skill!

John Corrigan is an expert in helping individuals to bring their whole of mind to their daily life and increase their effectiveness and the effectiveness of those around them. This expertise scales from the individual to the team to the organisation. At the core of this work is the practice of encounter.  Earlier blogs can be found here.

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