Problem Solving

It is amazing to watch a group of students given the same problem and the freedom to solve it however they want. You will see so many different styles of problem solving. Some will sit quietly, thinking and writing down ideas and then go and solve the problem all at once. Others will try many little things and build their solution brick by brick. Some students love to collaborate and brainstorm with others. Other students want to do it all by themselves and resent any outside input. And then some students are completely lost without step-by-step instructions. They have no idea how to approach a problem and work out a solution. Sometimes they are afraid of not doing it right, as if a big problem could only have a single solution. Others have just never been asked to do this kind of problem solving.

Over the years the percentage of kids who don't know how to start problem solving has been getting bigger. And we in education need to figure out what to do about it. In real life students will need to deal with many problems and almost no high-stakes tests.