Thinking Skills: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

102 Unit 3 Problem solving: basic skills

An extension of this skill is to identify

possible reasons for variation in data – once

again, this springs from past experience as to

what causes changes and the types of

variation that may be expected. This type of

question is dealt with in more detail in

Chapter 3.8.

These are best illustrated using examples.

The first deals with identifying the similarity

between two sets of data.

3.7 Recognising patterns

In Chapter 3.1 we saw that there are three

main skills involved in solving problems. We

have already dealt with the first two of these

(identifying important information and

combining pieces of information). This

chapter deals with the third skill, that of

identifying pieces or sets of information in

different forms which are equivalent. In

particular, this chapter deals with graphical,

verbal and tabular information.

Activity

The table shows the results of a survey into

ownership of various household appliances

by families who live in a town.

Which of the bar charts accurately

represents the data shown below?

Appliance Dishwasher Vacuum

cleaner

Washing

machine

Microwave

oven

Food processor Toaster

% ownership 68 98 77 54 34 92

A

100

50

0

Vacuum cleaner

Toaster

Washing machine

Dishwasher

Microwave ovenFood processor

% ownership

B

100

50

0

Dishwasher

Vacuum cleaner

Washing machineMicrowave oven

Toaster

Food processor

% ownership

C

100

50

0

Toaster

Food processorMicrowave oven

Washing machine

Vacuum cleaner

Dishwasher

% ownership

D

100

50

0

Vacuum cleaner

Toaster

Washing machine

Dishwasher

Microwave ovenFood processor

% ownership

E

100

50

0

Vacuum cleaner

Toaster

Washing machine

Dishwasher

Microwave ovenFood processor

% ownership