When I told my husband the subject today for our blog was problem solving, he said, “We all know that blogs can’t solve problems.” I thought he said, “Blondes” rather than blogs. After I disagreed, we realized I had misheard his comment and I began to solve the problem of why I jumped to the “blonde” conclusion. So, I began to problem solve.
Some of the reasons I made the wrong assumption included my son’s sending me his copy of “The 500 best blonde jokes ever” newspaper article when he was a student at Arizona State University. Another reason is that I’m referred to as the “Technodinosaur” of Lawton Academy because I refuse to give up on any computer that still has a spark of life within its metal walls. I also prefer to teach with excellent software from the past which has not made the “thousands of updates” grade of the present.
Yet, this stubborn preference for antiquities has required me to do a lot of problem solving! In fact, just yesterday I was able to figure out and perform a magnificent solution to the need for a resurrection of some of my math software. I finally figured out how to load CLASSIC on my rather new computer which now makes it possible to teach my students (even first graders) how to understand and use the properties of probability thinking. Battle won!!!
Yes, my stubbornness (Did I mention I was born in Missouri?) has caused me to spend endless hours on weekends and nights at the school problem solving. But when I do score a hit, I have such a deep sense of satisfaction knowing I accomplished the objective…and I did it my way! (Sorry about that Frank Sinatra.)
I do teach problem solving to my students in all grades. In fact, we have made creative competitions part of our Team competitions in the elementary school. My teachers are always amazed to see how little practice our students have had in setting up a problem solution…due to (in part) video gaming, etc… in which the actual problem solving was already done before the games hit the market. Besides, it is easy to hit the stop button and start over when a player doesn’t like the way the challenge is going. Unfortunately, real life problem solving isn’t that easy to do. Often, the results may not be clear for years to come.
Besides gaming to teach problem solving skills, art is another great avenue for developing the ability to problem solve. Many times, some of the best loved art projects were the result of an awful mistake which, when transformed by problem solving, turned into a lovely piece of art. I then show students that such a “wonderful” mistake turned into such a “beautiful result” usually cannot be duplicated…no matter how hard one tries.
My recommendations for parents to help develop these problem-solving skills in their children include the following. Teach them at a young age (five or six) the correct way to play checkers and chess. They may not handle a full game with you but guiding them as you play and explaining why you made certain moves will help their brains to internalize these patterns as their own future strategies. A few other fun games for this purpose include Pick Up Sticks, Jenga, Chinese Checkers, Dominoes, Uno, Pattern Matching, Suspend, Q-bitz, Booby Trap, Trapture, Stormy Seas, and card games like Sets.
- Kay