A Taxonomy of Problem-Solving Activities and Its Implications for Teaching

Problem-solving is just such a topic. Solving a problem is an activity which can consume days, months, or years, or can take place in a matter of seconds. It can subsume many behaviors or very few. It can be extremely complex or very simple. Consequently, it is almost impossible to talk or even to think about it as a whole. Discussion of problem-solving tends to degenerate to a discussion of one phase of problem-solving or even of solving a particular class of problems. Thus, general statements about problem-solving are often made which would be better addressed to a particular part of problemsolving.