Weekly Web Wonder 6: Problem Solving and Project Based Learning

Problem Solving

Problem solving is one of the most basic skills that students should receive from education. Just think of what everyone from mechanics to engineers do on a daily basis in their careers. I will admit that I have taken problem solving for granted in the past. It was just something you do, everyone should know how work though a problem. But these readings helped take me back to my math class freshman year. Our whole class did well on quizzes where the problems were purely math based, but we struggled on the exams where we needed to apply the concepts to real life situations. We were asked to problem solve, but couldn't because we were never taught.

The need for problem solving is the first thing Jamie Kirkley identifies in her technical paper Principals for Teaching Problem Solving. She points out how fast ideas change in modern science. We can not educate our students with current knowledge and expect them to be good through their careers. We need to teach them how to be life long learners and adapt to changes. We can do that by teaching the process of problem solving:

1) Identify the problem
2) Define the problem through thinking about it and sorting out the relevant information
3) Explore solutions through looking at alternatives, brainstorming, and checking out different points of view
4) Act on the strategies
5) Look back and evaluate the effects of your activity

Project Based Learning

Assigned projects themselves are not considered project based learning. We have all been assigned projects that we feel were simply "busy work". That defeats the entire purpose. Our readings highlight 8 essentials to project based learning. They are:

1) Significant Content

2) A need to Know 

3) A Driving Question
4) Student Voice and Choice
5) 21st Century Skills
6) Inquiry and Innovation
7) Feedback and Revision
8) Publicly Presented Product

The part I was least comfortable with was the 21st century skills. To clarify this, I found the graphic below. It is a good idea to keep these in mind with every lesson we write.

I'm looking forward to diving into project based learning by writing my lab lesson this week and presenting it next week!