Ferris Wheel; by Sasha Rudensky, Wesley an University, CT, student of J. Seeley

6
Understanding the Nature of Problems, Solutions, and Assignments

“Physicists like to think that all you have to do is say, these are the conditions, now what happens next?”

Richard P. Feynman

 

One of the truths of photographic education is that we solve problems to learn. It is through learning by doing that we make the greatest strides in learning photography. In rough terms, the majority of the active learning situations in photography are seen in the assignments we give. Though we cannot deny that research is active in many cases, it is through use of cameras, computers, and processes that the learning happens at its highest levels. The assignment gives us a chance to direct discovery and learning.

While learning can include information acquisition, in photography most of the learning to make images is about solving problems within the processes and methods. Understanding the structure of problems, their solutions, and how to use this information to build assignments enables us to better assist others in learning photography. We will be taking a generalized view of problems and solutions and then applying these ideas to the creation of assignments in a way that assists our structuring education in photography.

We have chosen to approach the subject of problem solving in an abstract way first and then will move on to discuss assignments. This first approach will be in a more theoretical manner because problem solving is involved in most areas of photography, and thus to concentrate on a few aspects would tend to miss how problem solving pervades and is at the core of learning photography. Also, we are enlightened by how the structures of the solution that are arrived at impact what we can do with problems in our educational pursuits.

Structure of Problems

Problems can be broken down into types, but as in any real world situation they will take on differing levels, dependent on the environment, the situation defining the problem, the tools available to solve the problem, and the person(s) trying to solve the problem. What we do find is a very limited set of structural attributes that vary in intensity within problem types.

“Teaching is also problem solving. You have to be flexible enough to spot the learning problems and be able to solve them.”

John Tonai

Brooks Institute of Photography, CA

Complexity of problems is the first structural element we will delineate. We often try to define the problem/solution environment by the number of steps involved. It is oversimplifying to correlate the number of steps needed to present or solve the problem with its complexity. Complexity of a problem or assignment is often associated with difficulty in solution, but this may not be the case. In photographic education we need to look at the inherent complexity of various photographic processes. Shortening or easing the problem or solution to meet our educational objectives may be required.

Further, this complexity develops a linearity of problem/solution loosely based on the time consumed with solution. The temporal aspect of problem solving is of course important in the structure, but can lead us to misconstrue importance based on simplicity of statement or perceived time requirement for solution, rather than on difficulty of the problem. In this way we might see lighting and photographing glass as being more difficult than lighting and photographing an environmental portrait, not based on the difficulty of the problems but based on the time and steps involved.

We can also categorize complexity of problems based on how we see their dimensions or degrees of freedom. We might see a linear single-dimensional problem as requiring simple general exposure through a simple equation; path-determining problems such as event photography that are linear in two dimensions as events needing more complex exposure; deterministic two-dimensional problems such as advertising photography as having degrees of freedom built into the problem set because of message control; interactional three-dimensional problems exemplified by free expression in fine art photography as having subject, intent, and technique as dimensions; time-based three-dimensional problems such as documentary photography as working in four dimensions because of the addition of time constraints to the preceding concerns; complex process manipulation seen in computer animation within captured images as requiring problems to be solved in the preceding dimensions, in coordination with software functions, producing a five-dimensional problem; and we could continue through outer space to more and more dimensions.

“In [our] photography [program], we bounced back and forth between Minor White and Ralph Hattersley. We would go to Minor and we would learn the Zone System—and how to scrutinize a picture for an hour. At that time, most of the students thought he was really weird. In retrospect, it was a major part of our education—what a picture is and how you deal with it—every minute detail of it.”

Carl Chiarenza

An important attribute that we sometimes overlook is the structural requirement for and accessibility to a solution. While some problem structures require solution or suggest its availability, other problems must be viewed as insoluble. We can accept that there will be a solution for finding an equivalent exposure, while it is not as clear that we can know if “straight photography” or post-modernism is more important. In some cases there will not be answers, just questions. The structure of a problem cannot avoid dependence on also defining the solubility of the problem.

Another structural element common to problem solving is that problems and their solutions often suggest, or are suggested by, a process. The processes vary but they have procedural or operational functions. In many ways these aspects of the problem structure do more to define the type of process than any other attribute. A developmental problem such as the Zone System defines the problem as a necessary condition of the procedure used to solve the problem.

In photographic learning, the rules for many parts of the process take on great import. The rule setting is the role of the teacher and creates the active path that learning will follow. This is most visible in the creation of assignments but is also clear in the structure of rules explained in demonstrations. Because so much of photography is made up of small and usually interrelated linear processes, the rules within and between these elements of the photographic process are needed to both do and learn photography.

Rules are pivotal in all problems, as they must be in developing assignments. This is because they define the processes and acceptability of solutions. The rules relate ideas, events, and steps of the process and/or actions needed to accomplish other ideas, events, steps, and/or actions. Part of understanding and preparing to solve a problem is in determining what rules will be used in the process. The inverse situation is also true; the knowledge you have for the problem determines the scope of the rules that have been used to set the problem. Therefore, explaining the rules that will be used for an assignment is critical if learning objectives will be accomplished. With a low level of knowledge built into the problem, the rules are weak; the structure will be less clear and solution more difficult.

“Determination and perseverance move the world; thinking that others will do it for you is a sure way to fail.”

Marva Collins

In normal situations the rules take on an “If-Then” format. The rules become the way the structure and solution must function. In this strange twist, many times it is the rules of the problem set that determine solubility, and not the other factors within the problem set. An assignment that states that the student must make a portrait using continuous spotlights in the studio will produce different results than if the rules require the use of only window light. While in both cases a portrait is to be produced, the light quality differences will produce vastly different solutions.

An overriding rule that affects all other rules is “rules have exceptions,” and this to some extent contradicts all rules. The way around this contradiction is that we must also have principles that supersede the rules. While rules are finite and tend toward precision, principles allow for both interpretation of the rules and creation of new rules as conflicts between rules emerge. If the principle for an assignment is to have excellent photographs to critique, then the critique can continue even if a student does not meet all the expectations presented in the rules of the assignment.

Last, there needs to be a problem solver. Most problem solving is a human event that can add a creative aspect. While today's machines can “do” processes, their abilities to effect solutions must be programmed in, thus negating any claim to their being a creative machine. This brings in the mental aspect of the problem structure. Perhaps the hardest area to judge as structure is the mental aspect of the problem.

Types of Problems

To help us make better assignments leading to our stated learning objective, it is helpful to define problems. There are five distinctive problem types that can lead to different objectives in differing learning domains. These are technique, puzzles, experimenting, artistic, and paradoxes. Whether intuition, imagination, or ingenuity is used to solve the problems that are the basis of our assignments, problems function at differing mental/academic levels. While not totally exclusionary in the layout of this discussion, learning levels are presented hierarchically, with easier or less mature problem/solution structures presented first.

Technique

Technique problems in photography are like mathematics. For most of mathematics there are answers or expected outcomes for problems. Also, much of photographic technique is based on mathematical considerations such as measure and calculation. In the simplest sense then, photography presents the same workflow through its techniques and processes as does solving most mathematics. Photographic technique and math problems, after the simplest level, become tool-based problems. Above all else technique problems are process determined. They have a strong operational paradigm with very specific rules for working out the problem. Operationally these problems strongly tend to be determined by linear steps in processes that are well defined by rule sequencing.

The technique problem base is highly defined, in both statement at the start and in the outcome, by rules that are empirically found. Photographers, as mathematicians, are always studying and refining their outcome tracks that will open potential deviations of process or thought. Those who can handle the rigor of the rule structure and the underlying technologies reach the appropriate solutions. Both photographic technique and mathematics require vertical learning, with each new step and complexity built on previous methods and processes.

For the most part technique problems, like mathematical problems, are solution specific…they have right answers that are repeatable.

“Many instructional arrangements seem ‘contrived’ but there is nothing wrong with that. It is the teacher's function to contrive conditions under which students learn. It has always been the task of formal education to set up behavior which would prove useful or enjoyable later in a student's life.”

B. F. Skinner

Puzzles

Puzzles are a type of problem that requires skill or ingenuity to solve. While puzzles take ability to solve, they have set solutions. Within this group of problems we find extreme levels of mental complexity that function in multi-dimensions. While some puzzles can be solved mentally, puzzles tend to be physical realities. Basic puzzles may be solved without cognitive effort by using other skill sets or learned patterns of response. For these reasons, formulating puzzles for photographic education makes for an effective and a lighter educational style.

The basic structure of a puzzle has three requirements. First, puzzles must have specifically definable solutions. In this way they share the same rigidity of solutions that are found in technique and mathematics problems. There are not incomplete or partially correct solutions. The idea of a puzzle is to get to THE solution. If you are assembling a jigsaw puzzle of a cathedral, then a picture of a sailboat is not the anticipated solution. Next, the rules for solving the puzzle must limit the nature and scope of the solution. While the steps of solution can be reordered in many puzzles, a rule from outside the puzzle set is not acceptable: no going outside the boundaries of the maze or using parts from other puzzles. Last, the steps used to solve the problem must be well defined. If the rules are not sufficient for the puzzle, then new rules are instituted to better define the steps.

A good example is the Rubik's Cube. When it was developed, the puzzle creators had several contests that gave prizes to anyone who could solve it at all, and with the fastest times being hours. But soon after, children found that if you did not care about the logic of the moves, there were a series of moves that would solve the problem manually as opposed to mentally. The time required dropped to seconds.

While there is creativity in developing puzzles, there is less creativity in solving them. Within the solution framework of puzzles is the distinct ability to solve the problem by rote or memorization. Even when the perceptual requirement is changed, there is a similarity of process for solving families of puzzles. Thus, once the elements of block puzzles are learned, then other block puzzles become easier to solve. Similarly, by using the puzzle concept to create photographic learning, the problem solution of the puzzle can ingrain patterned learning that will be useful for further process or method learning.

Riddles are intellectual puzzles. They share several concepts of puzzles while remaining mental in solution and process. Riddles are heavily reliant on arriving at the proper solution through the proper process. These problems revolve about the process of acquiring the one and only correct solution. While they can be intuitively solved, for the most part they are logic based.

Critical in the riddle as a problem is the why of the riddle. Riddles are often teaching or humor involved, with creativity coming in as a tool of defining the logical process that will be needed. As we look at riddles they also appear to be trivial.

Experimenting

Experimenting, as a type of problem, is useful both in education and research work in scientific pursuits and in learning photography. It is not uncommon that learning happens exceptionally when the learner “discovers” how something works. Many photographers report the excitement of seeing their first print develop. While the single instance of seeing a print develop is exciting, even more exciting is learning the relation of the various parts of the printing process and how they affect the quality of printing. We have students making work-prints simply to see changes and to perfect their printing process, as well as to correct an individual print.

“Experiential learning is more effective than lecture or demonstration, so I try to maximize opportunities for students to experience the concepts and techniques that I teach.”

Terry Abrams

Washtenaw Community College

Experimenting assignments are pursuits of validation and finality of ideas and processes through tool usage, and not the development of those processes and ideas. Both photographic and scientific problems used as assignments are limited in scope and are defined by the rules that will be used to solve each problem. For these problems we need to use our minds, teamed with tools and perception, to work within the defined existing structure of knowledge.

Of the protocols normally used, one of the most limiting situations is insisting that the criterion for selecting problems is that they surely have solutions. Experimental problems try to make refinements in an already defined idea. This means that most of the time the experimenting is working on an idea that has already been proved and that solution to the idea is a foregone conclusion before the assignment is given. By refining, as opposed to innovating, success is assured. These types of learning experiences prefer small improvements as opposed to creative leaps.

“Science is always wrong; it never solves a problem without creating ten more.”

George Bernard Shaw

Artistic

When we think of creative problem solving we are often brought to the discussion of art. Our societies have invested in the arts the mantle of creativity. We even have courses entitled “Creative Photography.” However, it is the creativity-generating problem that is discussed here. Thus it is incumbent on us to search through this type of problem solving to see if there are any structural attributes that might be shared within teaching photography.

Artistic problems have a unique application of the concept of solution. While there is specifically an outcome requirement, there is not a requirement for a particular solution. As strange as we might think that this statement is, success in most cases of artistic problem solving is the end product as opposed to the process of solving the problem. We see this in the success of artists of all persuasions. Looking at criticism, there is seldom comment on the problem that the artist saw, because more likely the critic was more involved in the outcome of the process than in solving any particular problem.

“I believe that art must reach out to the viewer, yet at the same time leave them with more questions. With ambiguous answers at best.”

Anthony Andaloro

In many cases the artistic problem solving becomes defined as artistic production (outcome) searching for a problem to solve. There is no solution, even though there is a tangible outcome. With so much intent on the process and outcome, often these become the definition of the problem. Artistic production is specific outcome-based, but not solution-based. An artistically based assignment we often see is… “To create a portfolio of ten prints on a personal theme.” In this way the artist's completion of the portfolio is seen as the same as a solution. Here creativity becomes descriptive within the development of the process, but not in solving problems. While society has said that artists are creative, they are not expected to solve problems but to produce work that reacts to society.

To conclude this portion of this discussion, let us speak about the issue of creativity in artistic problem solving. Artistic/aesthetic problem solving is not necessarily creative. The model of problem solving that is shown in the pursuit of art does not present a good model for other creative problem solving. With the lack of an external problem structure and limited restrictions for solutions, the potentials for creativity are high. However, the pressure for tangible artistic output restricts creativity in many cases.

Paradoxes

There are problem types that cut across all areas that need to be addressed. The most obvious of these is the paradox. This is the type of problem that either has an apparent solution that through common sense seems contradictory but nonetheless is perhaps true, or is unanswerable under the structure that is used to define the problem. Paradoxes are common and they add an unusual amount of complexity to problem solving. The paradox often promotes or requires creativity for solution to make it past the common sense aspects of solution.

We have all seen classical paradoxes such as Zeno's Paradox, “How many grains of sand do you need to remove from a heap of sand before it is no longer a heap of sand?” Such paradoxes pose logical quandaries that make solution difficult.

Within the concept of paradoxes are also those that are self-referent. Self-referencing paradoxes assert and deny themselves. You can use logic to arrive at a contradiction. Epimenides' Paradox, “I am a Cretan, all Cretans are liars,” is such an example. (A particular favorite on true and false tests… ”The answer to this question is untrue.”)

Mathematics uses the term “paradox” for the midpoint, to suggest a borderline solution or exceptions that can be fixed with effort. This is important particularly in discussing what happens between bits of digital information in an image when the value falls between two binary units.

We will find that using paradoxes in teaching photography will cause difficulties if introduced too early in the learning process. Just as koan is used in Zen training to open the mind, to change the way the world is viewed, a paradox used in a photographic assignment will force the student to view solution outside the normal and regularized problem-solving procedure. Paradoxical assignments can be both very enlightening for the students and exceptionally frustrating.

“If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time—a tremendous whack.”

Winston Churchill

Solutions

Perhaps we should start by defining solutions into two basic ways. While sounding simplistic, solutions can be broken down into those that solve the problem and those that do not solve the problem. Though this seems too easy and flippant, it defines a basic structure that makes learning happen through the pursuit of solutions. This is not an issue of success of the solution as a stand-alone idea but rather as a statement of completion of the problem.

Non-solved problems arise in two ways: either the problem is not soluble or the solution is not about the problem the solver was addressing. Not solving a problem because it has no present solution is a realistic possibility in many cases, but more interesting is arriving at a solution for a problem you were not working on. The non-solved problem remains, but arriving at another solution is a key to being creative. Creativity often is not in solving the problem at hand but in recognizing that the solution reached has its own power and importance.

Christopher Broughton, Brooks Institute of Photography, tells the story of how when he was a young photographer he was trying to photograph a sand dune in black and white with a red filter. But he made a mistake. He had forgotten to calculate the filter factor into the exposure. He realized this on returning to his darkroom and prior to development of the film, so he overdeveloped the film. While he was trying to solve a problem, to get the negative to print normally, he ended up solving another problem, of defining N+ development to increase contrast.

The fact that a problem has no solution is not saying anything negative about those who try to solve the problem. Some problems are not soluble at the time or with the tools at hand. They may be problems of a level that will remain unsolved until the time is right.

Because there is a potential that within the solution structure a “No” solution may occur, we need to ask: What can be done and what cannot be done? When we start from this premise we allow the problem to help with the solution or to help us realize that the solution we desire will not be at hand. If we wish to succeed, then we need to look at this first idea of solubility as an issue of encouragement. The lack of the desired solution often fits into learning because, for learning to happen, the journey to solutions may be more important than getting there.

“Problems and defeats are stepping stones to success.”

Guadalupe Quintanilla

Creative Solutions

The easiest problems are solved by an answer engine…a systemized approach that gives answers to questions. Today we are blessed with computers that make this discussion easier. We can look at the program of the computer as a set of steps that solves specific types of problems. This algorithmic approach is well suited for many of the interrelated concepts within learning photography. This means that the steps of the solution take on a rigid form that is based on consistently applied rules, with all variations included in the instructions. This might be an assignment for making a good negative from a given lighting situation. It will require moving through exposure reading, setting the exposure, and finally to development. Like an answer machine, the linearity of this methodological problem solving cannot be creative.

“You don't go out to take pictures, you are taken by pictures.”

Ernst Haas

Certain problem types, particularly artistic and paradoxical, are not suited to solution by a linear process, thus are not easily solved by an answer machine. One of the main components of creative problem solving is the ability to look at the problem or potential solutions from outside the system. The answer machine approach is un-noticing…it cannot notice facts and data not provided or directed to attend to it. The machines cannot pursue data external to their field without first being instructed as to what and where to find the information. What is needed is to “jump outside” the problem/solution set to see avenues that are not visible from within the set.

Even some of the “creative problem-solving” techniques are answer machines and will fall short for the needs of teaching the creative needs of photography. The use of problems that force solution outside the normal or require the addition of rules or data out of the ordinary will infuse creativity. For example, having the assignment require the image to have an auditory quality not a picture of a sound maker, will present a problem that cannot be taken through an answer machine. It requires the learner to try things that may produce a creative output. It may be in critique or as the image is discussed that the student's creativity will be seen. For the few who may succeed at such a difficult problem, the light will go on…for those who do not find a solution, the process and critique can be used to bring forward opportunities to discuss progress toward their own creativity.

“To attempt to ‘do something in a new way’ appears to some to be both a noble and foolhardy prospect at best. However, to form this tension between past and present, to reassess and reform, can also relate to or be viewed as a biological necessity, providing an equilibrium that, as Mumford has described, ‘is necessarily unstable and is constantly upset by the continued act of growth.’”

Nathan Lyons

Visual Studies Workshop, NY

Types of Solution Strategies

Whether a machine or human problem solver is involved in our solution, we can define types of solution strategies. In fact, some people act like machines when solving problems. The extremes of actions are what we will call linear and nonlinear problem solving.

Linear problem solvers are consumed by the solution's process. They commit to a process and believe that if the process is finished,

Monk; by Casey Woods, Austin Community College, TX, student of Sean Perry

then the problem will be solved. An assignment for these types of problem solvers is always defined by the rules. They tend work on only one problem or step at a time. If creativity is to creep into a linear solution, it will be in developing the process, but likely this means reading a new book, since linear thinking depends on previously discovered logic.

“To see if the students actually got the assignment, you should look at the path that they took. If you only look at the final critique it may appear that some have gotten it, some may have just happened upon it and did not actually get the learning, but if you see their progress you can see how they got it.”

Gary Wahl

Albion College, Ml

Nonlinear problem solvers are compulsive and do not commit to any process. Not starting until the last moment is not unusual for nonlinear problem solvers because they tend to be better under pressure and will often self-impose pressure if they need to get something done. Another way they self-impose pressure is by working on many problems at one time. They meet deadlines but continue to add complexity as they work, by flitting from one problem to the next, changing processes and arriving at each solution as it comes. This is very creative and hard to copy as a problem-solving system. The energy from one problem is shared with adjoining problems.

As we proceed in this discussion, we can easily see that what will become the crucial element in the probing of creative problem solving will be the people involved in solving problems. The difficulty with looking at solutions through their structures is how people function as part of and within structure.

There seems to be a widely held concept that the more the structure, the less freedom to be creative. Normally the rules that defeat creativity are those that restrict actions. To a large extent, as rules are added they will restrict solutions. On first blush this appears to be a strong case that the rule attribute of the structure reduces creativity in the solution. However, creativity abounds in some structures.

It is not that structure eliminates freedom; instead it promotes certain levels and kinds of freedom. Within structure there are ideas, such as information and interconnectivity that provide the means for aspects of creativity to work their way into the system. Particularly in open structures the rules of the set do not restrict information and energy, they focus it. The open solution structure accepts input during its process from beyond the bounds of the problem set, while a closed structure does not. Open structures exemplify creativity because they interact with their environments and absorb energy and new information as the solution emerges.

The rules for the structure can be one of two types. They can either be proscriptive or prescriptive. Proscriptive rules tell you what you cannot do while prescriptive rules tell you what you must do. This means that the structure of the problem will either direct solutions, such as a Zone System assignment prescribing process, or the problem will tell you concepts that cannot be used to solve the problem, such as in advertising photography guided by federal laws that forbid certain concepts. In either case, each provides a level of freedom that is encouraged by the types of rules used to structure the problem.

Types of Solutions

Just as it was helpful to realize that different types of problems function in different ways, it is a good to see the different way that solutions function.

Discovery

“Eureka”… I have found it. That is discovery—finding the solution because of awareness of difference, change, and/or newness. Discovery is most often an unplanned activity for the learner, but is not necessarily unplanned by the teacher. Younger students making photograms will often make discoveries about the way light penetrates various materials; these discoveries may someday serve them in working as photographers, printing negatives, and will inform them throughout their photographic careers. While the role of the photogram for the learner is to provide a way to make a picture, learning about light becomes the solution for upcoming problems. This is a prime example of how we use the concept of non-solution to bring us to another realization or to a solution we were not looking for.

“I know of nothing more inspiring than that of making discoveries for ones self.”

George Washington Carver

The act of discovery includes more than seeing an anomaly; it requires identification of change in perception or application. The discovery takes place when the meaning that the discovery has on problems takes on its full scope of importance. This means that in the discussion of the photograms, these discoveries need to be included. Discoveries grow or diminish in their importance by the amount of effect they produce around them.

Evolution/Revolution

Often revolution is grouped and perceived as a more rapid form of evolution. The two concepts differ in time and visibility. During revolution change happens faster than with evolution, without the prime concern of problem solving. This said, with revolution usually some problems are solved. Revolution is not about the problems but is a method of change. Evolution, on the other hand, is all about solution and not about method of change. While we can create a series of assignments that may lead a student to evolve in their style or technique, revolutionary assignments will tend to be filled with energy but may not lead to learning or solution of problems.

“People seldom see the halting and painful steps by which the most insignificant success is achieved.”

Ann Sullivan

Learners of photography normally evolve in the way they make images more than they are involved in revolutions of technique or aesthetics. Just as it is hard to see discovery because it deals with attributes not predetermined, evolution is difficult to see as a solution method because of its processes in reaching solution. The most important attribute of evolution's processes is its reliance on adaptation and feedback.

Innovation/Invention

Creativity in problem solving appears in both innovation and invention. These are the ways discovery and changes are used to actually solve problems. Innovation is the less strenuous of the two because it depends on a second level of discovery. When a discovery is perceived, the application does not always accompany. Innovation means that there needs to be a second step to the process that makes a discovery valuable.

When an innovation takes on a physical dimension, we see invention. All the attributes of the problem/solution set must be present along with the intellect directed to solving the problem. Within photographic education, these two problem-solving styles will be seen sparingly and most likely at higher levels of education.

“It is common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Within our societies, we honor inventors for their insights and abilities. We see people who have a drive to apply discovery and form new “things” from emerging and changing ideas as the inventors. Their creativity is seen in the ways they manipulate their perception to be able to see the direct application (the innovation) and the physical result (the invention) of discoveries.

Resolution

The last type of solution is resolution. This is a solution that appears out of divergent parts of the problem set. Unlike evolution, it is not time based and people can be creative in resolving problems. The creativity comes in as observational and via juxtaposition of portions that allow for solution. Resolutions tend to be a negotiation among alternatives that open up potentials for solution that might otherwise be unobserved or unrealized. This is a working out of the problem set through investigation of various scenarios capable of providing solution. These solutions do not seem earthshaking because they are negotiated.

Since the artistic problem is more centered on the production of the product, the photographs, there are various avenues that will reach the outcome without actually solving the problem. This makes resolution a valid problem-addressing method, particularly with an ongoing body of work. As photographers work at making images they often select not the solution but one of many techniques or options to deviate from the present path. They may, for example, move from black-and-white to color, or straight to documentary photography to make the statements they wish more strongly. These decisions will bring about differently perceived works that may come closer to solution but are valued in their own right without the necessity of solving a problem. Many artistic problems do not have solutions…only resolutions.

Perhaps the easiest way to illustrate the differences and at the same time the interrelationships that can occur between many methods of solving problems and development of new ideas is to look at a brief history from the introduction of photography through digital imaging. The introductions of the photographic processes in 1839 were examples of invention, and evolution of thinking and resolution through empirical research and discovery. As time went on there were improvements to the process of capturing light and making pictures. Many of the fine tunings of the methods represent both inventions and innovations. Problems were resolved as newer technologies and aesthetics were introduced. As we moved to our present, a revolution took place in areas tangential to imaging—the concepts of digital information processing and the information society's development. The revolutions in these areas forced imaging to evolve. While at its inception the introduction of photography was revolutionary for the art of making pictures, the move to digital imaging is evolutionary for photography.

Tools for Solving Problems

“To be a creative thinker one cannot rely only on logic. To be a rational thinker one cannot rely only on intuition. But the combination of logic and intuition provides the fuel for discovery.”

Theoni Pappas

When we wish to assist others to learn to solve problems, and thus make better photographs, we have tools and methods to apply to the problems that face the learners. We can build into assignments paths that will tend to use certain tools for solving problems of photography. This is true of tools for learning technology and aesthetics. We will briefly discuss some but not all of the mental tools that can be used to solve problems. In photographic education, several solving tools, such as modeling, have limited application.

Logic

Logic is discussed first in this presentation of tools because it is seen as the major problem-solving tool of Western societies. As with most of our problem solving, this writing uses a type of logic as a tool for creating the structure of the presentations. Logic as a tool for solution is based on a strict structure—reasoning, ideas, and rules—not on the outcome. A good logical solution meets the statement of “goodness of logic.” That means the process follows the rules of logic and that those rules and processes are not linked to an ultimate solution. While most commonly correct in outcome, logic as a tool for solution can be flawed.

Logic is a conscious tool. It takes mental activity and at its most effective is a highly intellectual tool. When logic is in its highest form the thinking process becomes almost unobstructed as a stream of consciousness. Because much of photographic technology is a linear process, logic is a strong tool for teaching photography.

“Logic is the art of going wrong with confidence.”

Morris Kline

Rote

Learning by rote is defining the way the learner will answer a specific question or solve a specific problem. The specificity is the issue. Rote problem solving works within narrow structural sets. The kids that can whiz through a Rubik's Cube are functioning this way. It is obvious that using rote in this way can solve the cube but not other types of puzzles. In photography, particularly for basic technique, rote solution has a great advantage. It leads to transferring the rote problem solving to knowing the technique and likely, when married to logic, to mastery.

Reduction

In certain types of problems the use of reduction of the set is a common tool for arriving at a solution. Particularly in the artistic, technical, or scientific areas problems are first approached by reducing the number of constructs in a problem. The idea is to simplify the path to a solution by eliminating aspects of the problem that are not important to the solution or that can be isolated and deferred. When viewed in terms of a technical problem this system works well. It is the concept mentioned earlier as “Asking only the right question.” The more parts to the problem, the more attractive reduction appears.

This idea of reduction fits particularly well with technique. Many parts can function independently and within the same operating system. For example, in exposure the ISO, aperture, and shutter speed all can be used to compensate for lighting conditions. By reducing the variables, learning about the effects of only one is easier. With reduction of the problem, exposure can be set up to have learners come to a solution using only one of the exposure variables. Reduction in this situation is holding ISO and shutter time constant, leaving the light in the scene as an independent variable and the f-stop dependent on the light.

Chance

“Give chance a chance.”

Hans Richter

Perhaps the least admitted to tool, yet the one that certainly can lead to solution, is chance. It is the least dependable tool for problem solving but is encountered by learners. The difficulty is that true chance is difficult to put into assignments in a consistent way. However, we should not assume that chance cannot be used to solve problems. While we may not be able to put chance into assignments with dependable outcomes, having the learners aware that this may arise throughout their learning can be useful.

“If we do not expect the unexpected, we will never find it.”

Heraclitus

Enlightenment

With the enlightenment function, direct relation to the problem need not be present to reach a solution. It is often tied to discovery. The mind just snaps to a solution avenue with such clarity that you would have to be asleep to miss the solution. Since the ideas and solutions of enlightenment often happen in a near dream state, it is the ability to recover these ideas and solutions that is used to define the masters of many mystical pursuits. Enlightenment will be most useful for solving high-level problems and will be very difficult to build into assignments in photographic learning. This is a difficult concept for Westerners, since it is not part of our normal “logical” process.

Not only is enlightenment like dreaming, it is closely related to humor. The same mental switch operations that allow you to see humor are in play when enlightenment takes place. Many scientists and researchers point to this fact in terms of a lot of laughter in association with major discoveries. Lewis Thomas, a noted scientist, said, “And I think one way to tell when something important is going on is by laughter.” Both enlightenment and humor free the mind to see possibilities that the logical mind cannot see.

Visual and Verbal Problem Solving

An interesting problem-solving tool is to verbalize/visualize the solutions as they materialize. This is actually a perfecting tool more than an originating tool. Solutions coming from other tools often need codification to be understood. Particularly with mental constructs, the visualization and/or verbalization allow the idea to take on substance to be realized. When this solution process is public it takes on a differing form, by allowing interplay with other ideas. This is one reason that many disciplines require publishing of ideas and theories. It allows peers to react and perfect the constructs.

More important is the realization that as much as we might want, the likelihood is that there are many people who have ideas that, when added to our own, make for better solutions. New ideas are often not totally realized by the originator and this visualization/verbalization method makes it possible to use other sources to mature constructs. This is problematic if you need the credit solely for the idea, since others will have been involved. It is a decision based on whether the solution or the credit is more important.

Perhaps the greatest advantage to this tool is that it uncovers errors. This is because when we use the tangible, visual, written, or verbal, we make the solution open to others' and our own correction. This is the primary reason for open/group critiques.

“Education is the acquisition of the art of utilization of knowledge. This is an art very difficult to impart. We must beware of what I will call ‘inert ideas,’ that is to say, ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilized or tested or thrown into fresh combinations.”

Alfred North Whitehead

Feedback

Feedback is a mechanism that registers the state of the system as it compares to a desired state at a given time…it then uses this comparative information to correct deviations of problem solving. Feedback is goal oriented. The feedback for a system or process is the measure of the difference between the goal points and the present location.

For feedback to work as a problem-solving method there must also be process control for the solution—control that can adjust course, timing, or value in relation to the feedback measures. This requires the problem solver, whether man or machine, to have the ability to effect change and not to just observe.

One of the most important features of feedback as a problem-solving tool is that it is not a static tool. Movement must occur for feedback to happen, fast or slow…feedback is about purpose, process, and progress and not about the status quo. If there is no change in the system, then feedback becomes unable to function.

“Being successful it is all about student feedback. You can see that the students have a good feeling about their own work and a feeling that they have really progressed. They are positive about themselves.”

Ian R. Smith

Salisbury College, United Kingdom

An example of how this can “come a cropper” is the story of the instructor who sat outside the darkroom and gave feedback to the students as they brought out their prints for him to evaluate. In the process of learning to make prints, this seems like an optimum situation to use feedback for correction. However, since some of the students' results were not exhibiting change because of great negative density, the feedback was disregarded. The feedback became totally rejected when a student brought back the same test print three times and got new corrective action each time. The feedback needs to show movement toward the goal or it fails as a tool for problem solving.

Assignments

The most common way to use problems and solutions in photography is to structure them into assignments. The assignment as a tool puts together the various structural elements of the problem to move the learner through specific steps to an outcome that will support the overall objectives for the area of learning. Because the concept of the assignment is to use an activity-based learning method, the design of the assignment can go a long way to assure a desired outcome.

The learning presumably happens in a lecture, demonstration, or discussion, but it only begins there. To learn photography, assigned work (reading, problem solving, practice of skills, etc.) is necessary to continue the learning process. The teacher has such an attitude toward assignments.

Students often learn by a sad experience to look upon assigned work as drudgery or punishment. To the extent that they retain this attitude they fail to obtain the benefits that assignments offer. It is not uncommon for students to spend many fruitless hours on assignments. They often have little understanding of what they are required to do, and less comprehension of how to do it. In desperation, many students submit work that does not address the objective or in some cases may not even be theirs.

“No man can be a good teacher unless he has feelings of warm affection toward his pupils and a genuine desire to impart to them what he himself believes to be of value.”

Bertrand Russell

There are three main virtues for giving assignments. First, assignments provide the practice that is necessary for learning photographic skills and tools. Without practice, the learning level will be poor. Next, assignments permit students to work at a pace more natural to them, partially free from the pressure of the clock as in a test situation. Students can take time to think about their work, to reference materials, and thereby to attend to more complex problems than can be usually put on a test. In many courses it is normal practice to assign a portfolio and/or term paper as an exercise in organizing, discussing, and criticizing ideas based on visual or academic research. Last, assignments permit the teacher to assess the kinds of abilities that are difficult to measure in tests, and therefore serve as grading devices.

“Set up visual problem-solving situations that gets students to think in ways they normally would not think so that they form a habit of setting up that type of situation for themselves.”

Betty Lark-Ross

Chicago Latin School, IL

There are, however, disadvantages to assignments. To the extent that students are not practiced in the knowledge, tool, or learning objective, they may practice the wrong skills or may be completely baffled. It may take them several hours to solve a problem that they can handle in a few minutes if they had some help. Much of the time students spend on assigned work is wasted in misdirected efforts. Also, students resort to kinds of behaviors that interfere with their learning. They postpone working on assignments until the last possible minute, they submit almost anything, regardless of its quality and they try to meet the requirements without necessarily being concerned if the submitted work is appropriate for the assignment.

To create effective assignments we recommend the following guidelines:

1. Relate assignments to the objectives of the course, and make them pertinent to the subject matter. Never assign busy work.
2. Make assignments clear and definite. Write the assignment on the board, or, better, distribute printed directions.
3. Work out problem assignments yourself in advance, to detect blunders or common errors the students might encounter.
4. Assign small amounts of practice material frequently, instead of large quantities rarely. Students should expect some practices for nearly every class session, in addition to merely reviewing notes.
5. Set reasonable due dates and see that they are met. It is better not to downgrade late work, but instead to refuse to accept it altogether. The point to be made for the students is this: unless the practice material is worked on at the right time, the exercise is worthless or nearly so. Students will fight this policy, so it is well to prepare them for this policy more than once.
6. Make no assignment that you do not intend to correct and review. Such work is often depressing drudgery for the teacher, but if you do not treat the assigned work with respect, the students will not take it seriously either.
7. Return assignments with comments promptly, preferably before the session after they are submitted. Students need feedback as quickly as possible after the event if they are to profit from it.
8. Make assignments reasonable in terms of the time and effort required of the student. In many educational institutions, typical students are in class and/or studying 18 hours or more per day.
9. Once you have made an assignment, stick to it. Students sometimes try to persuade teachers to relax requirements and are most ingenious at devising excuses. Except in hardship situations, students should be held to the performance necessary for their learning.
10. Encourage students to submit written work, as well as major portfolios, in a well-organized format. Learning how to present material in an orderly fashion, properly cited and meeting other educational requirements, is important. Furthermore, sloppy projects are hard to correct. By accepting untidy papers or poorly produced photographic projects, you are encouraging more of this kind of performance.
11. If an assignment is poorly done, find out what went wrong. Then repeat the material and assign additional practice items. On the assumption that the learning is important, it is clearly wrong to let go and move to new material. Students dislike redoing assignments, but it is necessary for the teacher to convince them that trying again (and perhaps again) is an essential part of the learning process.
12. Help students to understand that to cooperate with other students or to work out assignments together is acceptable, but only if they take the right attitude. Students can learn from each other when there is a genuine attempt to complement each other's abilities. Merely copying is more than immoral…it is stupid.
13. When assigning an ambitious project such as a term paper or a major portfolio, check frequently on the students' progress. Set due dates for interim points such as the selection of subject, working title, tentative outline, thematic approach, etc. Such a sequence of the requirements helps students understand that the whole job cannot be done properly the night before it is due. This procedure also provides periodic opportunities for encouragement.

“The worst thing is to get an assignment back with a grade and two words as an explanation for the grade.”

Buck Mills

Colorado Mountain College, CO

Model Approach for Building an Assignment

It is better to have a strong, rational method to develop assignments rather than trying to simply use a template for building an assignment. We suggest a linear process for the use of an assignment that influences the building of assignments. This system has six successive parts that are part and parcel of the learning-by-doing idea. This means that assignments are not afterthoughts but are seen as parts of the learning flow. This means that they are envisioned as part of the learning progression and are contemplated and designed along with the course outline.

To make the most of the assignments we must start with the learning objective. As we lay out our course, we will define the learning objectives. This may be formalized in the syllabus format or outline, but as this conscientious effort takes place, the choice of active or passive learning must be made. When the choice is made to have the learners actively pursue the learning objective, an assignment is settled on. Though this is the point to decide if and how an assignment will flow in the learning process, the next step of the learning sequence, the teaching method, will affect the form of the assignment.

“I decide first and foremost what I want the students to learn, the outcome, and then create an assignment that they can use to learn not only the technique but also the creativity part.”

Mark Olson

Community College of Southern Nevada, NV

The teaching method you choose should give direction to the assignment. For example, you may be using a computer-mediated lecture/demonstration method to present using curves to correct color bias. With this format for introduction of the material, an assignment will be developed that has the learner follow the steps from the demonstration. In this example an assignment might have the learner use the “Auto” RGB, RGB channels, and CMYK channels. Thus the requirements and directions for the assignment will direct the student to follow what was in the lecture or demonstration.

If you wish for the assignment to lead the learner to “discover” the points from a class, such as the effect of view camera movements on depth of field, then the material presented in class must include all the pertinent clues that will allow the success of the assignment, since that is when the learning will happen. In this example, the lecture will show the way the camera standards move and how this changes the focal distances inside the camera. The assignment will then have the learners photograph a horizontal surface from close to far away while moving the standard with positive and negative tilt. This will allow them to discover the effects of tilt on depth of field of a horizontal surface.

While not a separate step in this sequence, in the construction of the assignment, it is important to actually teach, lecture, demo, etc., as you model and to include the important information in the instruction. After the teaching, the assignment is given. Clarity in the directions, requirements, and due date is critical. The assignment-based learning is the active part, and just as the learning objectives are important for the teacher to put into the lecture, the activity expectations are important for the learner.

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

William Arthur Ward

As discussed previously, the due date (the fourth part of this sequence) is important. The due date needs to be viewed in relation to two aspects of the learning sequence. First, the time provided between presenting the assignment and the due date must be sufficient for the learner to perform the learning tasks. Second, and more important, is that the due date needs to fit into the learning flow. When the date is chosen, there is a need to coordinate information to be learned or practiced through this assignment with learning that will follow or will be simultaneously occurring. It is a stronger learning sequence to have a due date for an equivalent exposures assignment be coordinated with a discussion of creative use of depth of field than to have the due date well after the class has moved on from lens and exposure dynamics.

The last two parts of the sequence are interchangeable for order, but must be completed. As already stated, the assignment needs to have consequences and value in the learning process…a grade. The graded assignments need to be promptly returned so that learning can continue. Regardless if it happens before or after grading, the assignment results need to be reviewed. This will reinforce the learning. When the assignment is creative, the review will be a critique.

“An understanding heart is everything in a teacher, and cannot be esteemed highly enough. One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feeling. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.”

Carl G. Jung

The appendix includes examples of assignments.