Coaching practices for Problem Solving Before Teaching

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Problem Solving Before Teaching, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• Whenever I hit something new I reach straight for the tutorial before I’ve even tried it myself, and I’m starting to wonder if grabbing the answer that fast is exactly why none of it ever sticks
• I always jump straight to the worked example or the solution before I’ve even tried the problem myself, and the explanation never really lands
• I’m brand new to this and they’ve thrown me straight at problems I have no clue how to start, so I just sit there guessing and backtracking and getting nowhere
• When a fresh problem lands cold, my real stumble is the very first step
• The moment a problem shows up I lock onto the first fix that comes to mind and start running with it

Practices that may help

1. Attempt before instruction
   Try to solve a new type of problem with your current knowledge before any formal teaching.
   Productive Failure: How Struggling First Makes Instruction More Effective
2. Attempt problems before seeing the solution
   Try to solve or answer a question before you are shown how — even if you fail.
   The Generation Effect: Why Making It Yourself Makes It Stick
3. Study a fully worked example before attempting a new problem type
   Read through a completely solved example and understand each step before you try to solve anything yourself.
   The Worked Examples Effect: Learn Faster by Studying Solutions First
4. Practice classifying before solving
   Explicitly ask "what kind of problem is this?" before reaching for a method.
   Interleaving: Mix It Up to Learn It Better
5. Adopt a "not-knowing" stance before problem-solving
   Delay solution-generation by first articulating what you genuinely do not know about a problem.
   Beginner's Mind (Shoshin), Made Practical
6. Generation: attempt before you are taught
   Try to solve or answer first, even if you get it wrong, before seeing the solution.
   Make It Stick: The Science of Learning
7. Solution-space exploration
   Generate multiple different approaches to a problem before converging on one.
   Productive Failure: How Struggling First Makes Instruction More Effective
8. Prepare for the questions a learner would ask
   Predict what would confuse a beginner and make sure you can answer it.
   The Protege Effect: Learn It Better by Teaching It
9. Evaluate solutions for durability: realistic, mutually satisfying, safe
   A collaborative solution that fails one of three tests — realistic, mutually satisfying, safe — will not hold.
   Collaborative Problem Solving (Ross Greene)
10. Move to problem-solving only after understanding is mutual
    Problem-solving before mutual understanding produces solutions neither party owns.
    Looping for Understanding (Difficult Conversations)

Describe your situation in your own words to search the complete practice library.