Problem Solving

Definition Basic intellectual process that has been refined and systemized for the various challenges people face.

Cognitive Psychology Cognition refers to the process of knowing, and cognitive psychology is the study of all mental activities related to acquiring, storing, and using knowledge.

Educational psychologists are becoming increasingly interested in how people receive, interpret, encode, store, and retrieve information. Attempts to understand the cognitive process have shed light on human problem solving, memory, and creativity.

Logic Science dealing with the principles of valid reasoning and argument. The study of logic is the effort to determine the conditions under which one is justified in passing from given statements, called premises, to a conclusion that is claimed to follow from them.

Scientific Method Term denoting the principles that guide scientific research and experimentation, and also the philosophic bases of those principles. Whereas philosophy in general is concerned with the why as well as the how of things, science occupies itself with the latter question only, but in a scrupulously rigorous manner.

Expert System A type of computer application program that makes decisions or solves problems in a particular field, such as finance or medicine, by using knowledge and analytical rules defined by experts in the field.

Programmed Instruction Programmed instruction received its major impetus from the work of the American psychologist B. F. Skinner, who, in 1954, described how programs could be developed scientifically.

Algebra Branch of mathematics in which letters are used to represent basic arithmetic relations. As in arithmetic, the basic operations of algebra are addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and the extraction of roots.

Diagnosis The determination of the nature of a disease. Modern diagnosis combines the taking of the patient's health history, a physical examination, and laboratory and radiological examinations.

Engineering Modern engineering is characterized by the broad application of what is known as systems engineering principles.

Engineering (con’t) The systems approach is a methodology of decision-making in design, operation, or construction that adopts (1) the formal process included in what is known as the scientific method; (2) an interdisciplinary, or team, approach, using specialists from not only the various engineering disciplines, but from legal, social, aesthetic, and behavioral fields as well; (3) a formal sequence of procedure employing the principles of operations research.