November 9th, 2020
Hello readers!
This week was so much fun! I had the chance to work with a college on developing a problem solving session for our peers. Doing this presentation was fulfilling in that we had the chance to collaborate and facilitate some problem solving for the rest of our class!
For this week, we had a great topic, and chose a good problem solving question to help instill some key ideas in the minds of our peers!
Here is the link for the presentation!
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1MTjkLSFaGKQevYe5yY8n7iqQDeJDGU0CgpaK83MPImM/edit?usp=sharing
The key ideas from this week were that there are multiple strategies that people can use if they are still STUCK on a problem. The chapter this week (Chapter 6) presents some good ideas that can be incorporated in a classroom. The first idea id distilling. This means taking a question, and boiling it down to exactly what it’s asking. It’s about getting rid of the useless information and specializing and generalizing and much as needed. You can boil the question down, and make it as specific as needed. As the chapter states, “if you can’t answer a question, alter it until you can”. This is a great strategy that helped many peers in our class today!
Next, the chapter discussed mulling. Mulling is the idea that if you are STUCK, you should think long and hard about the problem. At first, I didn’t agree with this, as in my experience, thinking about the question longer and harder can in fact make you feel more STUCK. As the chapter went on, this idea became more clear. We need to think long and hard about assumptions we might be making. Often times, there are things we might be assuming about a question, that hinder the progress we make on solving a problem. So, it is important that we think, long and hard about what we are automatically thinking. Today in our problem-solving session, we saw first-hand that our peers were making quick assumptions, and they had to go back and mull and think about the question further. After we prompted them to think about their assumptions, they were able to come up with different answers. It was clear that they were all making similar assumptions about the problem, but once they unpacked it, they were able to make more progress.
This chapter has given me lots to think about in terms of problem solving and how I can promote these strategies in my classroom. I think what I can do is challenge my students on their assumptions, to help show them what they may be assuming. Then, hopefully, they will take this challenge, learn, and apply it to the next problem. I will also discuss with them the idea of mulling and distilling and add it to their “toolbox” for problem-solving. Overall, I learned a lot, and cannot wait to apply it to my classroom in the future!
*PS. During this presentation was the first time I used a “Google Jam Board”. Our peers really enjoyed it, and it was fun to use a new tool virtually!
Here is a video that explains how to use it, and a copy of the Jam Board that was used during our presentation today!
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9m4HCjOkcA
Example from today:
Enjoy and until next time!
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