I like your idea of problems related with their virtual life, their phones and internet access is so important to them. Certainly I will be using them in class
We addressed the school wide problems of student dress code. Is it appropriate to wear certain items. We also attempted to solve the problem of driving regulations for teenage drives in North Carolina.
I ask students to list things that are issues in their lives. I get a wide array of responses. Ultimately I want them to think for themselves. I often tell them I donāt have the answers, because answers are discovered. They learn quickly that Google is their friend, and that researching solutions to the problems they face will prove worthy of their time.
I have students think about issues that face their families or communities and they had to come up with a process on how they would approach the problem and then how they would actually solve the problem. I really challenge my students to look at culturally relevant issues to them and I have them apply the problem solving process to those issues.
I love utilizing MindMap programs such as SimpleMind on apple. The kids seem to understand the mindmaps even if we just draw them on a simple piece of paper.
Throughout unit 2 I had my students work on logic puzzles/riddles at the beginning of every class period. They had fun with the puzzles, and learned that with most of my questions/puzzles there was more than meets the eye. They learned to be detectives and look for hidden or masked elements of the puzzles they were solving.
Good question. Observing and listening to your students often helps. What is important to them? Phones? Friends? School life? Rules? Entertainment? Social life?
I let the students choose as a group a local, school or community problemā¦and map out how they would begin to try and solve a problemā¦then they presented it in class, and we had class discussions on agree/disagree and suggestions.
How an APP can be a solution for a problem on your community.
Brainstorming
Producing possible solutions
For our school there are plenty of Real World problems that affect students and their communities. Some of the problems that affect the students are bullying, attendance, teacher grading practices, graduation rates, and gang activity, to name a few.
The process of problem solving is going to help students, not only in ECS, but also real world. Students need to learn how to troubleshoot when they encounter a problem. Many of my students have to fill out FAFSA, they learn quickly what they have to do or they will not receive financial aid for college.
I try to use problems the students see daily (traffic, communications issues, peer issues) and mix in real-world problems on a greater scale and current events. The biggest challenge is sometimes finding something they can truly do, so they can test out their plans and evaluate the results
Some of the problems our students think are a big issue right now are the school dress code, school lunch menu, and the closed campus. These seem most relevant and interesting at present time for my students.
Some problems students encounter are what smartphone to buy, what universities to apply to, what to wear during school spirit week. These are the dilemmas my students my students are talking about.
Maybe solve the problem to how Netflix can stop people from sharing their logins. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/netflix-family-plan_n_3134588.html
For one of the final projects I do for Unit 2 is to have students think about a problem they have to solve and explain how they used our problem solving process to help them solve it.
One of the bog problems at our school is cell phone use. So I think this could be a great problem to work through.
Our school has design challenges, were we invite the community to provide a problem for our students to solve. Once the students solve the problem, they present solutions to the community, where the solutions can be implemented. These problems, like most real problems, are interdisciplinary by nature and hold the studentās interest ecasue they know their solutions could become a part of the ārealā solution.
As this is an election year, there are a lot of issues that students can look at using the four steps of problem solving. I have them put forth ideas from local, state, and national news and we go through the steps.
In thinking about this question, it came to mind that problem solving is at the root of all solutions. You donāt come to solutions unless there is a problem to begin with. I think it is good to teach problem solving with examples that students can relate to.