Problem Solving
Chemistry, the subject I enjoy the most (totally). While reading this absolute masterpiece of a book, I stumbled on a passage that stood out to me. Problem Solving! Let's take a step back and understand what problem solving really is.
Problem solving is one of the valuable skills that come with dabbling in some chemistry. This trait is one that will help you succeed in all areas of life, not only academics. There are 2 primary ways in how you can tackle a problem: memorization and conceptual problem solving.
Starting off with memorization, or the "pigeonholing method", the first thing you want to do is determine what kind of problem is it. In other words, think about what topic this problem is testing and how to approach that specific topic. This method requires you to just memorize how to address each type of problem. While you do not really understand the essence of the topic, at least it gets good grades, and that's what matters doesn't it? The only annoying part about this method is the fact that just the slightest change in a problem requires a new method. Another con to this is that you don't really get the "big picture" in the problem, you don't know what is going on, you just know what to do by "muscle memory".
Now how do you get this bigger picture? This is where the second way of problem solving comes in - the conceptual path. This is when you actually know what the problem is about and you understand, well the conceptual part of it. The key difference is that you let the problem guide you to the solution. Instead of just looking at the numbers, you look at the words and apply the main principles you know to get the solution. Comparatively this is obviously a much harder method of solving a problem, but it does have greater gains since it allows you to take on any type of problem with relative ease.
I really like how you used second person to make it feel very instructional, as if the audience is actually reading a chemistry textbook.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you used lots of conversational and casual language to make this section not be so hard to understand because no one likes to read paragraphs full of academic words that we don’t even understand.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog because you explained an important topic in a way that is brief and short so a normal person could also understand it. I also liked how you added questions to your blog to introduce certain ideas that are important in the passage.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how your blog sounded like an everyday conversation. It was really fun to read and it didn't make chem sound bad. for the most part
ReplyDeleteI like your use of sarcasm, and humor and Rhetorical Questions, it made your piece not only informal but also conversational
ReplyDelete-Sukruta. Chetan
I hate memorizing things, it’s absolutely useless in the real world. As you said, understand things conceptually allows you to apply them widely to many different situations. Do you consider yourself more of a “pigeonholing method” or “conceptual method” type of person?
ReplyDelete