Connect Toolkit
The Connect Toolkit
Seattle Central Students are asked to connect knowledge and skills to solve problems.
Students build problem solving skills when they:
- Select and use theoretical models, quantitative and qualitative techniques, information sources, and technology tools
- Identify and solve problems using logical strategies and evaluate results
- Gather data from various reliable sources and assess the validity and relevancy
- Critically evaluate solutions using research-based evidence
- Use technology and apply to a wide range of practices, fields, and industries
At Seattle Central, we help students build these skills in all areas of the college - in classrooms, labs, and student activities.
The Connect Toolkit provides tips and resources that we can all use to help students build problem solving skills. While some areas of the college will teach problem solving skills in greater depth, we can all help reinforce these skills. Our hope is that students encounter similar instruction and practice opportunities in a wide variety of courses and activities. This will provide the repetition and practice our students need to build strong problem solving skills.
Problem solving is a vital skill. It enables individuals to navigate challenges thoughtfully and effectively. It encourages analytical thinking, creativity, and resilience - skills that are essential in academic, professional, and everyday contexts.
The Connect Toolkit includes tips for teaching problem solving skills. We approached creating this toolkit with equity and inclusion in mind but would always appreciate feedback and ideas on how to make these approaches work for all types of students that are in our courses.
The Teaching Problem Solving Skills section is a list of best practices for teaching problem solving skills. When possible, the teaching tip links to resources that can be adapted or used as-is. You are not expected to adopt all of these tips at once! Instead, consider adopting just one new practice.
The Assessing Problem Solving Skills section suggests ways to provide feedback on problem-solving skills.
Visit the Examples section to learn how Seattle Central faculty and staff are teaching problem solving skills in their areas.
Do you have ideas to add to the Toolkit? Please send a message to Emily Castillo at Emily.Castillo@seattlecolleges.edu
Using Problem-Based Learning Techniques
Problem-based learning is an approach in which students work collaboratively to solve a real-world problem. Students use their critical thinking skills to define the problem, consider what they already know, evaluate evidence, evaluate solutions, and assess the effectiveness of a solution. Learn more about Problem Based Learning in Problem-Based Learning: Putting Problems into Practice by Laura Rigolosi and Sherrish Holloman.
Design Interesting, Ambiguous Problems
In Foundations of Problem-Based Learning, Maggi Savin Baden and Claire Howell make the following recommendations about selecting/designing problems (68-69):
- Choose problems that students have some background knowledge of and are relevant and interesting
- Problems should not be too simple or too complex
- Problems should be somewhat unclear--they should have "a puzzle, mystery, or some drama" about them
- Vary the way problems are presented. Problems can be presented through print, video, infographics, etc.
- Conclude a statement or question at the end of the problem to provide direction to students about what they should do with the problem
Use Collaborative Learning Techniques
In Learning with Others: Collaboration as a Pathway to College Student Success, Clifton Conrad and Todd Lundberg define collaborative learning as "when two or more people learn from, with, and for others in shared problem-solving that is focused on the pursuit of promising ideas for addressing real-world challenges and opportunities (31)." Solving problems in groups helps us think deeply about issues, and often results in better solutions to problems. We learn from each other as we share ideas, perspectives, and feedback.
Collaborative learning for problem solving requires that group members spend time thinking together to frame problems, consider solutions, and challenge ideas. The authors recommend these practices in collaborative problem solving:
- Select problems that students "passionate" about solving
- Create a community of trust and respect
- Build an expectation that all group members will share their ideas and opinions
- Welcome differing opinions and ideas
- Encourage individuals to reflect on their own and share their reflections
- Think critically about ideas, information, and systems
- Reinforce responsibility to group members to stay engaged in their work together
See the Collaborate Toolkit for more ideas about teaching collaboration skills.
Provide Ample Time for Problem Solving
The act of problem-solving takes time. Be sure to provide students with sufficient time to work together.
We periodically review student work to ensure that students are learning the skills we’ve promised they would learn at our college. This is assessment. We assess students' work for two reasons:
- To provide student feedback
- To ensure that our instructional methods are leading to student learning
Assessment is often tied to grades, but it doesn’t need to be! You can assess student learning on ungraded assignments and activities.
Consider using multiple approaches to assessment. Not all assessments or assignments will work equally well for all students. It is important to provide opportunities for students to show what they know in different ways and not to "privilege specific ways of knowing or preferred ways to demonstrate knowledge" (Montenegro & Jankowski, 2020).
Student-centered assessment practices engage students as partners in assessment by giving them voice and choice in how they are assessed (Giving Students a Say: Smarter Assessment Practices to Empower and Engage by Myron Dueck). Consider co-creating assignments and projects with students and offering elements of choice in how they demonstrate critical thinking skills.
Assess the process of problem solving. Ask students to reflect on the process they went through as they identified a problem, evaluated information, and considered and evaluated solutions.
Documenting Student Achievement of the Learning Outcome
Faculty document the number of students who have demonstrated success in our College-Wide Learning Outcomes through Ensure Learning. Faculty can use the Seattle Central College Connect Rubric to determine students' levels of success. Faculty may choose to adapt the rubric to describe discipline-specific problem solving skills.
Examples are coming soon!
Conrad, Clifton, and Todd Lundberg. Learning with Others: Collaboration as a Pathway to College Student Success. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022.
Savin, Baden, Maggi, and Claire Howell. Foundations of Problem-Based Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, 2004. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/seattlecentral/detail.action?docID=295468.
SkillPlan. Problem Solving. Skills for Success Practitioner Tools, 2023, https://sfs-tools.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/SkillPlan_Problem-Solving-EN.pdf.
Faculty from across Seattle Central College came together in summer 2025 to discuss our shared college-wide learning outcomes. Faculty read about approaches to teaching and assessing the learning outcomes and shared their ideas and expertise. Their ideas form the basis of the Think Toolkit. The Think Toolkit will be updated as we continue to learn about critical thinking together.
Contributors
- Nichelle Alderson, Counseling
- William Berry, Accounting
- Emily Castillo, Director of Assessment
- Carolina Forero, English as a Second Language
- Marina Halverson, Biology
- Asefeh Houshyari, Economics
- Alyssa Jocson Porter, Library
- Qing Kovarik, Business
- Francois Lepeintre, Physics
- Jay Mclean-Riggs, Biology
- George McGuire, Biology
- Noah Neighbor, Carpentry
- Margaret Pak, Business
- David Quintero, Spanish
- Heather Soriaga, Seattle Colleges Institute of English
- Sharon Spence-Wilcox, Library
- Tony Vo, Human Development
- Nate Weston, History