FPS teaches you not to be blinded by one
aspect of an issue but rather to see it as a
whole and prioritise accordingly.
Alyssa Robinson
IC GIPS 2005 and 2006 Class of Class of 2007
A fantastic way to get to know like-minded
people and to think outside the syllabus.
Jessica Drayton
IC GIPS team, 2nd National Middle CmPS team 2005,
of 2010
IC 2009 Class
Principal Barbara Watkins
shows a CmPS Project
to the school
STEP 4:
CRITERIA
About Criteria:
Criteria are characteristics by which solutions will be judged and are written as questions.
Each criterion can have only one dimension and must express the desired direction. Each
will be written with a superlative word such as best, most, or easiest so the solutions can be
ranked. There are different qualities of criteria. A generic or stock criterion is not as
significant as a clearly written, targeted one. Criteria should help students find the idea
with the most potential for solving a problem.
What makes Step 4 challenging?
Students often find it difficult to write clearly targeted criteria and they resort to stock
ideas. To achieve a targeted criterion, a problem solver must look carefully at a key verb
phrase and purpose of the underlying problem and at the scenario itself. If the criterion as
it is written could apply to any problem then it is clearly a stock or generic one and it won’t
score well.
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