How Effective Are My Thinking and Problem-Solving Strategies?

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Teachers who practice good thinking and problem-solving strategies themselves are more likely to model and communicate these to their students than teachers who don't use such strategies. Candidly respond to these items about your own thinking and problem-solving strategies. Rate yourself: 1 = very much unlike me, 2 = somewhat unlike me, 3 = somewhat like me, and 4 = very much like me, then total your points.

 

1

2

3

4
1. I am aware of effective and ineffective thinking strategies.  
2. I periodically monitor the thinking strategies I use.  
3. I am good at reasoning.  
4. I use good strategies for forming concepts.  
5. I am good at thinking critically and deeply about problems and issues.  
6. I construct my own thinking rather than just passively accept what others think.  
7. I like to use technology as part of my effort to think effectively.  
8. I have good role models for thinking.  
9. I keep up-to-date on the latest educational developments in thinking.  
10. I use a system for solving problems like the four-step system described in the text.  
11. I'm good at finding and framing problems.  
12. I make good decisions and monitor biases and flaws in my decision making.  
13. When solving problems, I use strategies like subgoaling and working backward in time.  
14. I don't fall into problem-solving traps like fixating, lacking motivation and persistence, and not controlling my emotions.  
15. When solving problems, I set criteria for my success and evaluate how well I have met my problem-solving goals.  
16. I make a practice of rethinking and redefining problems over an extended period of time.  
17. I love to work on problem-solving projects.  
18. I am a good at creative thinking.  

 

Scoring and Interpretation
If you scored 66-74 points, your thinking strategies likely are very good. If you scored 55-65 points, you likely have moderately good thinking strategies. If you scored below 54 points, you likely would benefit from working on your thinking strategies.

Several good books that possibly could help you improve your problem-solving and thinking strategies are Learning to Think Things Through (Nosich, 2001), Teaching for Thinking (Sternberg & Spear-Swerling, 1996), Becoming Reflective Students and Teachers With Portfolios and Authentic Assessment (Paris & Ayres, 1994), and Real-Life Problem Solving (Jones, Rasmussen, & Moffit, 1997).