Solution Fluency

Solution Fluency is a process of 6 D’s, which allows learners to solve any problem they encounter.

Define: Identify the problem and plan where to go before starting. Skills include restating or rephrasing the problem, challenging assumptions, gathering facts, and considering the challenge from multiple perspectives.

Discover: This is the exploration stage. Skills include determining where the information is, skimming, scanning, and scouring the information for background filtering, and taking smart notes.

Dream: Dream is a whole-mind process, one that allows us to imagine the solution as it will exist in the future. Skills include generating wishes, exploring possibilities, and imagining best case scenarios.

Design: This is the process of gap analysis, breaking out all the necessary steps to get us from here to there. Skills include having a clear idea of how to do the task, starting with the end in mind and building steps backwards, and writing instructions in small increments that are easy to follow, positive and logical.

Deliver: Putting the plan into action and making the dream into a reality is delivering the solution. There are two components: produce and publish. Skills include identifying the best format for presenting and using that format to present the information or solution to the problem.

Debrief: An opportunity for students to self and peer assess; it’s a chance to look at the final product and the process to determine what was done well and what could have been done differently. Skills include reflecting on the process and the product, acting on the reflections, and internalizing the new learnings and understandings.

The process of Solution Fluency is not a linear one, but a cyclical one. At any stage, learners may need to revisit a step in the process. A teacher needs to guide her students and offer feedback as the students work through the steps.

Students must read the text an define the needs of the production. They must identify what is necessary to fulfill the needs of the show and then work with the parameters given. For example, they may have to work with budget restraints, a style limitation of color or texture, and problem solve using the space and resources given.

Using real world application and restraints can assist them in developing this skill.

For example, we might start with a dream design with no size, budget, or supply limitations and then have the students work to bring that design to life under specific limitations.