Week 3: Reasoning and Pathways: What I Learned

This week we had quite a bit of reading and a few media items. I enjoyed reading about deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning. The video attached to the Live Science article, "Deductive vs. inductive reasoning," was very helpful with clear definitions. I truly enjoyed reading about visual problem-solving in Dan Roam's book, "The Back of the Napkin." I took the "Which Color is Your Pen?" Self-Assessment in Chapter 2 (pp. 26 - 27). While reading, I thought to myself that I was probably a yellow pen (highlighter), and it turns out that, based on the self-assessment, I was correct. I also enjoyed the drawing exercise (pp. 20 - 21). Prior to this week, I never thought about solving problems using pictures and now I have a new tool I can use in the future. However, I am curious how Mr. Roam would respond to a blind person that has never actually been able to see with their eyes if they questioned him about how to draw when they are not able to see.

References

LiveScience. (2012, July 10). Deductive reasoning vs. inductive reasoning. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/21569-deduction-vs-induction.html

Roam, D. (2013). The back of the napkin (expanded edition): Solving problems and selling ideas with pictures. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

Week 2 - Approaches and the Problem Set Up: What I learned

 In week two, I learned more about problem-solving. I learned that assessing the problem from all angles and perspectives is important. I learned that having as much information as possible is essential to devise a hypothesis about the problem at hand. The learning resources this week were helpful. I utilized the problem-solving guide document (Walden University, 2014) for discussion posts A and B. I learned of the Attribution Theory this week and was reminded that correlation does not always equal causation (Goldin, R., 2015). I also enjoyed reading The Situation Is Hopeless, But Not Serious: The Pursuit of Unhappiness by Paul Watzlawick. I found chapters 1 - 5 interesting because each referenced different hypotheses for different life challenges.

References

Goldin, R. (2015). Causation vs. Correlation. Retrieved from: https://senseaboutscienceusa.org/causation-vs-correlation/#:~:text=In%20theory%2C%20these%20are%20easy,they%20are%20most%20certainly%20correlated

Walden University. (2014). Problem-Solving-Guidance-Handout. Retrieved April 10, 2023, from: https://waldenu.instructure.com/courses/59156/files/3388739?wrap=1

Watzlawick, P. (1993). The situation is hopeless, but not serious: The pursuit of unhappiness. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.

Week One - Better Understanding of Problem-Solving

 This week's learning resources reminded me of the importance of multiple perspectives. It also incorporated information about how everyone makes mistakes in their decision-making sometimes. I think the thing I found most fascinating is that there have been scientific studies done regarding intuition as it relates to problem-solving and decision-making. In my personal life, intuition has played a role in many decisions I have made when it comes to problem-solving. I signed up for this class because I thought the name was hilarious, but I can tell that it will be a good course for me as I continue my educational and life journey. I no longer work because I am on disability, but I feel like it is still important to have good problem-solving skills. This is the last course of my undergraduate requirements and I am contemplating changing my program to focus less on communication and more on business management. I believe this course will help me with making my decision by the end of the six weeks.