Reasoning Backwards

Book excerpt: American schools don't teach students how to solve problems, but ever since 2008, Japanese schools do.Fortunately for America, there are two strategies for solving problems, and the Japanese strategy reasons forwards from cause to effect. They brainstorm root causes by asking, "What COULD BE the root causes?" Then, they start guessing, which is slow and ineffective. This approach rarely finds every root cause, so it rarely develops complete solutions.The better approach reasons backwards from effect to cause, using Sherlock Holmes' strategy of Observation and Deduction. Problem solvers ask, "What IS different when problems occur?" They observe the situation to discover clues that quickly identify every root cause, which leads to complete solutions. Reasoning backwards is 4 times more effective than reasoning forwards.One set of problem solving tools based on Holmes' strategy delivers superior results, but it has never been taught in school. Now, this book introduces Holmes' strategy and these tools to students. For the first time, students can leave school prepared to be world-class problem solvers.