heuristic (noun) [pronounce yoo-ristic]– a method or set of rules that can lead to a solution to a problem, or something that gives a student the possibility to solve a problem by himself.

heuristic (adjective) – something related to self-learning or making a set of rules to solve some issue.

heuristics (noun) – the field of heuristic study (= self-learning) or making rules to solve a problem

Quinn Dombrovsky

Here are some examples of how you can use it:

The project teaches students a heuristic method to devise their own guidelines to find our more about this subject.

We teachers believe in heuristic teaching methods, because we’ve discovered that our pupils learn more when they discover things on their own than when the teacher gives them information.

We didn’t know which restaurant was better so we made a heuristic decision that The Friendly Cow was probably better because there were lots of people inside, while Cheese Alone was almost empty.

The manager used a heuristic rule that when his employees were smiling it meant they were happy to work for him.

Daniel Kahneman shows in his masterpiece “Thinking Fast and Slow” that most people prefer to use heuristics to solve problems that are in reality much more complicated.

A rule of thumb is an example of heuristics. So is common sense.