This week, students are asked to identify 2-3 criteria or standards against which potential solutions will be evaluated. It is at this point in the problem-solving process that students must consider how they will distinguish the better from the lesser of their proposed solutions. State differently, on what basis will students make decisions about which of their proposed solutions ought to be pursued as a response to the problem they’re addressing? What constitutes an acceptable “yardstick” against which to measure the desirability of one proposed solution versus another? Next, evaluate and analyze each of your proposed solutions in view of criteria you’ve selected. Which of your proposed solutions appears to best? Obviously, this step of the problem-solving process requires some capacity to forecast the likely performance of each proposed solution on each of your evaluation criteria.
I have found that teaching this class, this week is particularly difficult for students. When working on your signature assignment, remember, I am asking you to develop criteria to JUDGE your potential solutions. Let me give you an example:
When you go buy a product what criteria do you use to determine if you want to buy it or another product?
Price?
Quality?
Quantity?
You look at all the products available and compare them against the criteria. Well, this exercise is like that.
You develop criteria and then judge your solutions against those criteria.
This is about trying to PICK a solution based on criteria you set. It is not about implementing anything at this point or assessing the success of anything. It’s about what’s the best solution that your proposing.
If my issue is global warming and my potential solutions are:
1. Give everyone new energy efficient bulbs
2. Make cars get 100 miles per gallon of gas
3. Build a bunch of solar energy plants
Then my criteria I might choose could be:
C1: Cost of potential solutions
C2: Political Liklihood of potential solutions
C3: Social acceptance by the population
Then I would apply these criteria to each solution and see which one I think would come out on top. This is a process to help you NARROW down your solutions to one.
PLEASE REVIEW LAST WEEKS PAPER ATTACHED. DOCUMENT MUST BE 2 PAGES SINGLE SPACED.
