What is Problem Solving?

This was a rather amusing article. For me, problem solving has always been an intimidating aspect of both technology and mathematics. However, after many years I have learned that resistance is futile. Perhaps if educators introduced the idea of problem solving in a friendly way students would not be so resistant to the uncertainty involved. In education, errors are unacceptable. The very idea of having to use a heuristic is inconceivable. Students are taught concrete rules that apply to only a specific set of problems. When an unexpected situation arises we are left with only our wits, because the rules no longer apply. I think the advice of breaking the problem down into workable steps is very applicable. This can be linked to the general idea of teaching. In order for a student to fully comprehend a "big idea", the small facets of collective information must be understood.