We must dispel the myth that any problem that cannot be solved in five minutes is unsolvable. Using the lateral thinking exercises in journals encourages students to solve the problems for themselves and removes some of the initial pressure to solve the problem. This encourages the students to make steps toward the solution. Using a journaling process allows students to proceed toward the solution at their own pace. If a student is having difficulty, the teacher can write a question and also answer it to help move the student along.
Journals provide an avenue for integrating problem solving and writing.
The questioning skills and lateral thinking skills learned in journal exercises will transfer to other problem solving activities. Strategies An important component within the heuristic is the selection of a problem solving strategy. Students must be taught problem solving strategies and be provided with good settings in which to apply these strategies. They emphasized different skills at different grade levels. That doesn t mean that when textbooks introduced or used a strategy that was not a focus for that grade level that the teachers skipped it.