What if a solution you try does not work?

Answer 1

The key aspect of creators and inventors is they use "trial and error". Even scientists use this as they refine their experiments. "Let me add hydrogen to this and see what happens." "Well, hydrogen did nothing, so let me try another chemical." THAT is how people find solutions--trying and failing, and trying again with something new.

Real life examples:

1. Henry needed to study for an exam. He "crammed" the night before for the History test. He earned a C. So, he revised his plan. Each night, he would spend 15 minutes studying "as if" the test was the next day. Four weeks later, the teacher announced there would be a test the next day. Henry reviewed his class notes, and studied from the textbook. But he did not "cram" for hours on end. This test, he earned an A-minus.
2. Sally's computer kept freezing/locking up when she tried to open PDF files which contained her science worksheets. She clicked a file--the PC froze--and she had to reboot the PC. After doing the same thing several times, she tried to think of a different solution. First, she downloaded a fresh copy. Same result. Then, she decided to move the PDF file to a new Thumb Drive. It opened without a problem!
3. Mitch was working a math problem. Each time when he compared his answer to the book, his answer was wrong. So he decided to write out each step as he did worked the problem. He realized he wrote "20" when it was supposed to be "02" in the problem. By trying a different method, he could see his error.
4. Lucy wanted to write a story. But it sounded boring. She couldn't find the right words. She decided to keep a dictionary nearby to look up words. After 15 attempts to write it in different ways, Lucy finally wrote an interesting story. She was proud to show it to her teacher, who said, "This is very good! I think you might become a professional story writer when you're older! I can't wait to see the next one."
5. A mother was balancing her checkbook but it did not balance. After several attempts, she decided to separately add up all her deposits, and then she added up all the checks she wrote and bank fees charged.. then she subtracted checks/fees from deposits, and she finally got the same result the bank statement listed.
6. A dad wanted to build a birdhouse. He had no printed plans to follow. He drew it on paper and decided the measurements, then cut the wood for the 4 sides, top, and bottom. Then, he cut a hole for the birds to enter and hung it outside. But he noticed that birds investigated the box, but did not enter it. After thinking about it, he decided the hole was too small for some birds. So he took it down and made a new sized hole. The next day, he saw a bird fly in with blades of grass in its beak.

Answer 2

If a solution you try does not work, it's important to analyze why it failed. Reassess the problem, gather more information if needed, and try a different approach or solution. Learning from failures can help you find a more effective solution in the future.