I have a poster up in my room that outlines the problem solving process. It uses a couple of “real-life” scenarios that teens encounter to demonstrate how to solve these problems. One of them is “I have no social life” It then goes on to guide the student into determining the cause of the problem (ie no money? grounded?) and possible solutions (ie get a job, help out around the house) I like to start with those because they are something that just about every teen deals with on a regular basis. Plus it could help their parents out. 
So the biggest real world problem for are students are how can I manage my time so that I study and find time to relax.
Since I am creating my class for The Institute of Forensic Science & Criminology, I used the real world example of determining the steps to investigate a crime scene.
I use issues that arise in class, such as when I can’t get sound from my presentation and they suggest solutions. We also problem solve and suggest solutions to issues the students are having with an assignment. The students have become really good at asking the “right” questions to determine a solution.
Real world experience - Problem solving money management and creating a functional budget
Take a close look at what makes something a problem - desiring a result of some sort but not knowing exactly how to get there. A problem is different than an exercise.
The real world problem for my students, would be applying for financial aid.
I’m teaching a unit about the Arctic. One of the topics is oil exploration. I provide articles that follow the evolution of the oil companies in the Arctic: their exploration strategies and the negotiation and legislation with different governments to obtain permission to explore the area.
The debate between conservation, global warming, and the need of oil is motivating and it exposes students to write conclusions about a real world issue.
I use real life examples that students can relate to and also problems I’ve ran across in my 28 years of working at Motorola. Students love their phones, so, as an expert on their construction, their marketing strategies, their testing and so on, I use those experiences to get students to think about solving problems as we ran across them.
For example, how do you get a machine to press buttons on a phone to test software functionality and robustness???
I explain what we did using data and statistics to have machines use better algorithms that would simulate humans (customers) interactions with the phones so that the machines better tested the phones.
Lamberto
In my opinion, it is important for students to relate to a lesson a teacher will teach them. In other words, I think us as teachers should have students problem solve what is popular today. It would be cool to have math questions or algebra questions with the use of social media websites such as, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc.
I feel like students have been taught that adults are looking for one specific answer or that there is only one correct answer. From the time they entered the learning environment they have been limited in what answers can look like. This year I had Freshman-Seniors in my class and several students on various projects throughout the year made the statement “Just tell me what you want and I will do it.” The projects were open ended that had to have a list of skills we had been learning, but I felt like the students couldn’t think for themselves.
A very simple example for students to use is planning out their weekend activities when they have multiple friends to see and no car (too young).
I like to introduce the process of problem solving by sabotaging the student computers. When the students go to their computers they will be confronted with a lack of power, no internet connection, display problems, etc. Once the students have solved their computer problem, either on their own or with the help of a peer, we begin a discussion about how they found a solution to their problem. We further discuss the similarities and differences in the problem solving processes used to get the computers operating normally
My students came up with the following list based on our neighborhood:
Littering
Pot Holes
Better Resources
Gangs
Violence
Keep Kids off streets
Bullying
Shootings
More police
Hunger
Stray Animals
Helping kids for school supplies
Homework help
More jobs
Family problems
Need more sports
In my classroom students find problems in their community, which they are faced with. This is their real world it is revelant and real to them.
There are a ton of real world problems that we can apply to the problem solving process. I just think that as a teacher we need to keep it simple and one that every student as experienced. I would most likely use a problem around seating customers at a restaurant, or shaking hands with guests at a party.
Everyday we meet, each of my classes have a circle and have the opportunity to share a problem we have. Then the students choose a problem to solve and we talk about it. We did not necessarily need to focus on the technology way to solve the problem, but listening to my students solve them together was the best.
Some simple situations that students may face is, who to hang out with, what to wear to school, which party to attend. Some more serious situations could be how to bring up their grades, how to deal with a bully.
I find that it is always easier to teach students when they see how the information being taught will impact their lives. Working with high school students, it is easy to show them the correlation between learning the correct way to use computers and future earnings. With some of the students I am able to show the correlation between learning the new material in class and the savings of not waiting until college.
I think it’s really important to teach students appropriate social skills and ways to work out social problems. I want to have the students create a problem-solving flow chart that they can use when they run into an issue with their friends, family, or peers.
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