step 5:
evaluate the results
The final step along our path to problem solving is evaluating the results.
Although you may already have your solution, it is important to take some time and review what you have. Take a moment and reflect upon your work, your strategies, your solutions... Here are some questions you could ask yourself:
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Remember, we can always backtrack and go back to a previous step. Although this may be the final step along the path, it might not be our last.
Consider those questions and see if anything needs a second glance. It might be as small as reentering values in a calculator or as big as having to nearly start over. Take your time to reflect and make sure you have completed quality work.
Dr. Simanek (2004) has a few more steps before finishing a physics problem. They heavily emphasize on reviewing your work and critically thinking about what you have done.
12. Check each answer. Think about it critically. Is it reasonable? Make independent checks on the answer. Compare each answer with something with which you are familiar.
13. If the "answer" is an equation, test it with simple values, or for simple cases, where you are sure of the results.
14. Never submit your first draft. Reorganize and rewrite it, explaining the reasons for all steps (except for the obvious elementary operations). This process may seem like extra work, but it is part of the important process of communicating your understanding to others, and doing it will strengthen your own understanding. It might even clarify some points in your mind, or even expose a blunder or error you might have made.
13. If the "answer" is an equation, test it with simple values, or for simple cases, where you are sure of the results.
14. Never submit your first draft. Reorganize and rewrite it, explaining the reasons for all steps (except for the obvious elementary operations). This process may seem like extra work, but it is part of the important process of communicating your understanding to others, and doing it will strengthen your own understanding. It might even clarify some points in your mind, or even expose a blunder or error you might have made.
Buttons for the previous steps have been included in case you would like to review.
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Congratulations for getting through the path to problem solving!
Here's a bonus video that generalizes a method to solve a physics problem. What are the advantages/disadvantages to the problem solving method this tutorial provided? How about to Dr. Simanek's steps? |
For PY 205 students from North Carolina State University or anyone who is interested, take a look at the GOAL method and compare it to the problem solving path method. Join in on this activity on the next page!