PD Discussion Topic: Real World Problem Solving

Exploring Computer Science Unit 2 Best Practices
41

One problem that the students really gravitated to and applied all 4 steps of the Problem Solving Process is the issue of water conservation.

42

Very similar. A real world problem, “No network connectivity” Therefore, it begin very simple. Check all network connectivity. From Ethernet cable not connected to a NIC issue and to issues with the wireless router for a wireless network. Create a flowchart. Research!!!

43

I had my programming class think about the problem of school wide elections (Homecoming, Student Council, etc.) The problem was how to conduct fair and anonymous elections, prevent cheating (i.e. each student votes only once). There is a problem of logistics and procedures. This can be solved with a paper solution or with a programming solution. It gets the kids to think about the problem and the possible solutions.

44

My school has never hit 90% attendance since I’ve been there (11 years). q:How do we improve attendance?

45

I asked my students what problems do they face. Then they formed three groups and came up with a solution to their problem.

46

In our district, some of the biggest problems facing our students are:

  1. Class Size
  2. Class offerings shrinkage due to qualified teachers
  3. Magnet School Transportation issues
  4. Proficiency Tests/End of course exams
    These all strongly affect our students and their future.
47

I think using any of their ideas from days 1-3 would work for this. Any community issue like homelessness in new york, or the public transportation problem, or trash on the streets in Harlem, etc. I would probably use smaller scale problems that are in the school or class so that we could go through all of the steps successfully.

48

City streets in disrepair
Housing needs
The lack of modern computers in our class

49

Relating problem solving to real world topics is challenging , especially for a 9th grader. You need to know your students and their interests to come up with ideas that are meaningful to them.

50

I like to use the problem “computer won’t turn on” or the “TV won’t turn” on. I then ask, so what do you do when this happens. If you go get mom or dad, imagine you are home by yourself --then what would you do?

51

My students had to think of a problem at school that affected them, ie. ‘stupid’ rules, schedules, lunch choices. They then had to explain why whatever they chose was a problem, visualize solving the problem including the roadblocks that would be in the way. Quite interesting what they considered problems at school and they would solve them.

52

This can be tough because we are talking about HS kids without the real-world experience of adults to solve these real-world problems. The problems are so often beyond their “pay grade” as kids; we have to boil the problem down and simplify it a bit.
One problem at our school that the students might be able to tackle is routing. We are under construction right now and many of the paths in our school are closed for safety reasons. They can do a spanning tree to show their possible routes to different classes.

53

I struggled with this b/c many “real-world” problems are problems because there isn’t an easy solution because the problem is multi-faceted. Also, many problems require base knowledge of the issues.

54

Some ideas for real world problems: are the situation that a student is not doing well in the course but wants to play a sport. How can they fix the situation so that they are eligible to try out? This requires my students to look at their own work and see what they can do better, and provides a result they can be happy with.

55

Students tend to complain a lot about how the school is run. Instead of complaining I encourage the students to come up with solutions to fix the school to better suit their needs. We also talk about a lot of social problems stemming from earlier lessons about social media since the students get really fired up about those conversations.

56

My students decided to look at teen activities, or the lack thereof. This helped them to actually see the number of activities that are actually avaiable, and the areas of need.

57

I use something relevant like the problem of overloaded landfills for waste and garbage. It is always something unique as the problems seems to have a simple solution(s) … or does it? The brainstorming, questioning and feasibility of utilizing ideas is a lot of fun to get feedback on from students.

58

Instead of giving students problem solving solutions that I know are relevant to them whether they know it or not, I prefer to get them to dialog to uncover relevant problems as they see them.

59

Real World Problems

  • location of trash bins in public areas vs. amount of trash found on ground
  • location of crosswalks–proximity to stop signs/traffic signals vs. proximity to actual desired destination
  • location of public transportation stops (population of area; demographics of area, proximity to residences)
  • location of and accessibility to medical facilities, grocery retailers, shopping centers, parks
60

My school is a partner in the Asia Society’s ISSN program, and many of our classes utilize what’s called Globally Significant issues. These include [linked are overviews for educators]: (1) Infectious Diseases; (2) Clean Water; (3) Human Population Growth; and (4) Resource Conservation.

In addition to the ISSN framework, GapMinder.org and The Arlington Institute have great resources and details on other major problems.

While these world issues are fantastic for students to rally around, sometimes the fun problems like “how can I draft a better fantasy football team” also peak my students’ interests.