Problem-solving skills involve the ability to identify and understand the problem. A person solving a problem needs to list and consider options for a solution and then consider the advantages and disadvantages of each option. Once this is performed, the individual must evaluate the effectiveness of the chosen solution and then, where appropriate, implement that solution. In social studies, such skills are necessary to evaluate problems in history and assess the solutions that were applied to address those problems.
Employment of problem-solving in social studies applies skills that are used in science and mathematics to social problems. Weighing the advantages and disadvantages of various potential solutions enables problem-solvers to predict the consequences of those various potential solutions. Students learn that solutions of the past are often compromises between two parties that generate consequences of their own.
A student's ability to learn is, in some respects, dependent on the student's understanding of the world. When new information challenges a student's understanding, the student must use their problem solving skills to overcome any own mental resistance to the challenge. In social studies, the ability to overcome mental resistance is key to remembering social studies lessons.
The process of thinking through the challenge helps students remember the key issues and how the problem was historically resolved. The types of lessons taught in social studies focus on the tensions and challenges encountered between different people over time. Understanding challenges and tensions people faced in the past can prepare voters and public leaders to address problems of the present, including the tensions that have arisen out of solutions to past problems.