The Case of the Hungry Hippos: Supporting Students’ Development of Problem-Finding Strategies

While problem identification is a key stage in creative problem solving, many gifted students may rush to begin developing solutions before they have spent sufficient time accurately identifying the underlying problem or opportunity. As a result, they may develop irrelevant or hackneyed solutions. Despite the importance of problem finding, teachers may struggle to provide opportunities for students to practice authentic problem finding for a variety of reasons, including ambiguity surrounding the problem-finding process and concerns regarding external expectations emphasizing standardized assessment performance. Thus, the purpose of this article is to address these concerns by (a) operationalizing the process of problem finding and (b) delineating an instructional design method to support teachers as they construct problem-finding opportunities for students. Our research team identified four primary cognitive strategies involved in problem finding, including: Resource Management, Elaboration, Analysis, and Manipulation, which we integrate into the “Facilitating Problem-Finding Model” to provide clarity for the problem identification process. Then, we illustrate how teachers may use these specific strategic approaches to create targeted learning objectives. These objectives serve to anchor assessments and classroom experiences, providing students with important opportunities to develop problem-finding skills.