The World Needs More Problem Solvers
How do you respond to a problem? When looking to hire someone for a job, most employers say the most important quality they seek from an employee is the ability to solve problems. The classroom, if designed properly, can be an environment that fosters this much sought after skill.
So how do we allow our students to become better problem solvers? Ironically, the key component of allowing students to become good problem solvers, is to give them less help. Allow students the opportunities to make mistakes. As teachers, we usually fall into the trap of wanting to give students the correct answers or solutions as soon as they struggle or answer incorrectly. It is much better to allow students to make mistakes and give them room to follow up on those mistakes on their own. Model problem solving rather than just giving students the answer. As you, the teacher, work through the problem, consider how a novice might struggle with the concepts. One important result of this “hands off” approach, is that students learn it is ok to make mistakes. In fact students will begin to see that making mistakes is a critical part in becoming an expert problem solver.
Each school year I expose my students to projects and activities that will help them become more innovative about their work. Research has shown that the way you become a better problem solver, is to practice solving problems.
Teachers should put together a collection of good activities that will accomplish this goal. Creating or finding activities that have multiple possible pathways to the correct results are the best candidates. This allows different learning styles and problem solving techniques to be implemented by your students.
One such activity that I have used for many years that works well is the “Thickness of Aluminum Foil” lab. Each student is given a small piece of aluminum foil and is asked to determine its thickness. This is an open ended lab with no procedures or material list given. Students must brainstorm effective steps to obtain good results. Students will learn very quickly, because of the very narrow width of the aluminum foil, that using a ruler to directly measure the thickness will obtain poor results. So other methods must be devised to complete the lab in a more accurate fashion. Some other methods I have seen students use to solve this problem include; folding the aluminum foil a specific number of times, to allow a better measurement to be taken with a ruler, or cutting the metal into a square and using the volume and density formula to mathematically solve for the width of the metal. The activity, by its nature, has many possible ways to be solved, and forces students to think outside the box.
Teaching students to be better problem solvers is about establishing a culture in the classroom that welcomes innovation and trial and error. Show students, through well designed activities, that focus on only looking for the “correct” answer, robs them of the important learning opportunities during the actual process of the activity itself.
Do you have a classroom culture that fosters problem solving? Let us know what you do to achieve this environment.
