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WHAT’S SO GOOD ABOUT TASKMASTER CLUB? PROBLEM SOLVING

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Week 4 – Problem Solving: Thinking Flexibly, Together

Problem solving is one of the most frequently cited “essential skills” in education, and one of the hardest to teach well. It’s not simply about getting the right answer, but about how learners approach unfamiliar challenges, adapt strategies, and apply thinking across different contexts.

Taskmaster Club is particularly powerful here. Each session presents teams with unusual, open-ended problems that must be interpreted, planned for, tested and revised – often under time pressure, often collaboratively, and often with unpredictable results. This repeated exposure to varied problems helps young people build transferable problem-solving habits, not just isolated techniques.

What Do We Mean by Problem Solving in Education?

Educational research defines problem solving as a process, not an outcome. It typically includes:

  • understanding and defining the problem
  • planning an approach
  • selecting and testing strategies
  • monitoring progress
  • adapting when things don’t work
  • reflecting on outcomes and processes

Crucially, strong problem solvers are not those who memorise solutions, but those who can transfer strategies to new situations — a key focus of current UK educational research.

Why Problem Solving Matters (Research & Policy Context)

Problem solving has become increasingly prominent in education policy and research:

  • The OECD highlights problem solving as central to preparing learners for complex, uncertain futures, particularly when problems are ill-defined and collaborative.
  • In England, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) identifies metacognition and self-regulation – closely linked to problem solving – as having a high impact on pupil attainment.
  • UK cognitive science research (including work synthesised by Dunlosky et al., widely used in teacher education) shows that learners improve problem solving when they are explicitly taught how to plan, monitor and evaluate their thinking.
  • Research from the University of Cambridge on dialogic learning demonstrates that reasoning with others improves individual problem-solving ability over time.

Together, this evidence points to a clear conclusion: problem solving improves when it is modelled, practised across contexts, and supported through structured talk and reflection.

How Taskmaster Club Develops Problem Solving Skills

Taskmaster Club is particularly effective because it exposes learners to many different types of problems, requiring flexible application of strategies rather than repetition of a single method.

1. Interpreting Ambiguous Problems

Task instructions are rarely straightforward. Teams must read carefully, clarify meaning, challenge assumptions, and agree on what the problem actually is.

This aligns with research showing that expert problem solvers spend more time understanding a problem before acting — a skill that can be taught, modelled and practised.

2. Strategic Planning and Time Management

Once a task is understood, teams must decide:

  • what their goal is
  • how to use limited time and resources
  • which strategy is most likely to succeed

This reflects research on metacognition, which emphasises planning and monitoring as core components of effective problem solving. Taskmaster Club provides repeated, authentic opportunities to practise these skills.

3. Collaborative Problem Solving

Most Taskmaster Club tasks are approached in teams. Participants must:

  • share ideas
  • justify their reasoning
  • negotiate disagreements
  • compromise and adapt

Research into collaborative problem solving (including studies on dialogic teaching) shows that explaining thinking aloud and responding to others’ ideas strengthens reasoning and improves solution quality. Taskmaster Club embeds this naturally.

4. Trial, Error and Productive Failure

Many Taskmaster attempts fail — sometimes spectacularly. But failure here is informative, not punitive.

Educational research on productive failure shows that struggling with a problem before reaching a solution leads to deeper understanding and better long-term transfer. Taskmaster Club normalises iteration: test, fail, adapt, try again.

5. Questioning and Information Seeking

Successful teams often:

  • ask clarifying questions
  • look for hidden clues
  • check interpretations
  • seek additional information

Inquiry-based learning research consistently identifies questioning as a key driver of effective problem solving. Taskmaster Club rewards curiosity and strategic questioning rather than blind action.

6. Reflection and Transfer

After each task, teams can reflect on:

  • what worked
  • what didn’t
  • why
  • what they’d change next time

Reflection is critical. EEF guidance highlights that metacognitive reflection helps learners transfer strategies to new problems. Taskmaster Club allows this reflective loop into every session.

Why Taskmaster Club’s Approach Is So Effective

Taskmaster Club creates ideal conditions for problem solving because it is:

  • Low-stakes — failure is safe and often funny
  • Varied — problems differ from task to task and week to week
  • Social — thinking is shared and challenged
  • Time-bound — encouraging prioritisation
  • Engaging — motivation remains high

Most importantly, students encounter problems that don’t look like school problems — which is exactly what helps problem-solving skills transfer beyond the classroom.

Practical Ways to Make Problem Solving Explicit in Your Club

  • Ask teams to articulate their plan before starting.
  • Pause mid-task to encourage strategy review.
  • Highlight good questions as much as good answers.
  • Celebrate effective adaptations, not just success.
  • End sessions by identifying one problem-solving strategy teams would reuse elsewhere.

Final Thought

Problem solving is not a single skill but a habit of mind – one that develops through varied practice, collaboration, reflection and the freedom to fail safely.

Taskmaster Club offers young people repeated, joyful opportunities to practise this habit. By tackling strange, unpredictable challenges together, they learn not just how to solve a task — but how to approach problems wherever they appear.

And if they learn that while racing the clock, negotiating with teammates, and defending a slightly ridiculous plan?
That’s problem solving at its best.

Taskmaster Club materials:

Further posts in the ‘What’s So Good About Taskmaster Club series: