Global Security and Intelligence Studies Volume 5, Number 1, Spring / Summer 2020 | Page 102

Global Security and Intelligence Studies
Cognition can also be developed
and enhanced with the structured
problem-solving model like solution
frequency, which proposes to foster a
scaffolded platform for teaching the
fundamentals of problem-solving, as
shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Steps of solution frequency (Marangione 2019).
Along with solution fluency,
many propose that there are additional
analytical fluencies that students most
possess and master. Educating students
using traditional literacy standards is no
longer enough. If students are to thrive
in their academic and twenty-first-century
careers, then independent and
creative thinking holds the highest currency.
This includes solution fluency,
information fluency, creativity fluency,
collaboration fluency, and analytic fluency.
Students must master these fluencies
to succeed in a culture of technology-driven
automation and abundance
and with access to global labor markets.
Figure 3 presents an additional production
framework of solution fluency for
the needs of the twenty-first century.
The Academic Challenge
Ideally, before students become employees,
their education should
have prepared them to be inquirers,
knowledgeable thinkers, and communicators,
and to be balanced and reflective—all
qualities that encompass critical
or analytical thinking. This baseline
is often reflected in a college or college
department’s mission statement and
values, which by their very nature, can
be a bit vague and obtuse. For example,
the James Madison University (JMU)
Intelligence Analysis program states,
“Students learn innovative ways to
structure their thinking to solve complex
real-world problems when there is
both time pressure and a lack of reliable
information. The program highlights
the continually evolving nature of intelligence
analysis, with an emphasis on
employing new academic research into
analytic methods” (Intelligence 2019).
How students will develop and be assessed
in the areas of problem-solving,
creative and analytic thinking, collaboration
and communication, ethics, action,
and accountability are determined
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