TEACHING PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS.

The project described was financially supported by a grant from the Ontario Universities Program for Instructional Development and by the Faculty of Engineering, McMaster University. A noncredit tutorial is being used to improve students' skills at solving problems. In this experiment, the tutorial leader attends all the lectures with the students and then provides guidance in the problem solving aspects of the homework assignments the students are working on. The unique learning environment provides them with an opportunity to learn from each other and the tutor with an instant impression of each learner's ideas. The authors observed first hand the problem solving training provided by lecturers in the usual courses and identified the major difficulties experienced by the students.