Heuristics are general rules of thumb and procedural guidelines for processing information and solving problems, such as, identifying what information is given and what is required well-structured, home-work problems in Mathematics or Science are solved using algorithms but ill-structured problems such as predicting changes in market conditions or discovering cures for diseases require Heuristics.
Educational psychologists have been interested since long in identifying ways to teach people to solve problems effectively. Pessimists believe that problem- solving cannot be taught directly although students will benefit from frequent opportunities to develop their problem-solving skills through practice. Optimists, on the other hand, believe that problem-solving skills can be developed directly by teaching students effective problem-solving heuristics. John Dewey had suggested steps for effective problem-solving:
1) Presentation of the problem: Become aware of the problems or be made aware of them.
2) Definition of the problem: Define the problem by identifying the present state and the desired goal states and consider the implications for the solution. Sometimes, a problem can be defined in different ways, with various solution implications.
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3) Development of hypotheses: Given the problem definition, generate hypotheses for solving it.
4) Testing of hypotheses: Identify the advantages and disadvantage: associated with each proposed solution.
5) Selection of the best hypotheses: Identify the solution that offers maximum advantages and the fewest disadvantages.