Classroom Structures That Support Problem-Solving
We need to expose our students to problems and problem solving on a daily basis, even if the concept of problem solving is not formally identified. Problem solving needs to be woven into the delivery of our curriculum. Some examples of what this can look like are:
- Daily challenges – teachers provide students with a meaningful math problem to solve. This can be done as an entry activity, a journal writing activity or during the minds-on portion of a three part lesson. It can happen in small groups, individually or as a full class.
- The following example is one that came up in my FDK class this year as we were trying to figure out how to plant our garden. We learned that certain vegetables need to be a set distance apart in order to optimize their growth. Our question to the students were how many seeds will we need of each type for our garden? Some students went to the garden and selected a non-standard measure (shoe, book etc) and laid out their thoughts in the dirt. The example shown here, is making a model of the garden. My student chose construction paper in different colours to represent each seed. She used the paper length to be her non-standard unit of measure (based on our class discussion when we showed students with a piece of string approximately how far apart the seeds needed to be). She worked diligently for about an hour constructing the model, explaining to classmates her thinking, placing seeds carefully in the middle of papers and then writing in her journey book about the process and created a tally chart indicating the number of seeds needed for each type.
- A problem-solving corner or bulletin board
- This is an area in the classroom that can be used to post weekly problems, or unique and appropriate problems for the students to solve. According to the Guide to Effective Instruction: Problem Solving, these problems need to be introduced and discussed and then students need to be given time and opportunity to solve these problems and share.
- Activity Centres
- These can be completed during a math lesson. All students should have the opportunity to complete the problem. Students can rotate through this centre having the chance to solve the problem in small groups and share their findings. These can also be completed as a full class, with the intention of sharing their processes and thoughts to the class in the consolidation portion of a lesson.