PSI: Problem-Stimulus-Idea

PSI is a problem solving strategy that directs the student in a logical, effective direction to practice clear thinking. It provides a commonsense structure that helps to eliminate blocks in thinking.

Implementation

 

1. Practice is critical for successfully applying PSI with students.

• Before working with a course-related problem, let students brainstorm a list of problems that they perceive in their daily routines.
• After they experience this strategy in ways that relate to themselves, they can transfer the process to a problem related to their course of study.

• When you put ideas in juxtaposition and allow yourself to think freely, ideas begin to develop that would otherwise never have occurred to the thinker.

 

Classroom Management

 

1. PROBLEM

• Clarify the problem because without clarity, the solution will likely not resolve the issue.
• Phrase the problem in multiple ways to ensure that you can articulate what needs to be addressed.
• Rephrase the problem from a different perspective than your own.
• Consider how someone with the opposite position might describe it.
• Describe what you think the final solution should look like.
• Describe what the final solution should NOT look like.

• Find something connected to the problem area on which you can focus your attention.
• For example, if the problem is where to find time in the course of your day to get homework done, sit in your bedroom with a calendar, a school schedule, a home schedule, a clock, a list of classes for which you regularly have homework.
• If none of these stimuli help you think clearly about the problem, look around and find other related stimuli.

• When you combine the problem with the stimulus, you can begin to develop ideas (P+S=I) based on the relationships between the two factors.
• Though it sounds too simple to be effective, it actually can be just that!