Blog
#5
Recently
I was asked to share with fellow administrators some ways to help with Thinking
and Problem Solving in Grades K-2 (handout attached). I attended a
session on this at the TAP conference, but I also am interested in this because
of my interest in Early Childhood Education and PBL. It is hard sometimes
to think about ways to encourage thinking and problem solving in the lower
grades. However, what I have found, is that when you break it down, teachers do
this all the time in the lower grades. When you ask students to be a
frog, or sort, classify, or build, or simulate something from the real world,
we are encouraging thinking and problem solving. Early childhood teachers
ask students to problem solve constantly. They ask questions like – what
do you see? What do you notice? How could you make this
better? What is the important part of this picture? They ask
students to brainstorm and generate ideas. They ask students to explain
why they created what they created or sorted the way they sorted. I think
as students get older, we feel that we must decide the parameters for thinking
and problem solving. Really, in the early grades, teachers encourage
thinking outside the boundaries and encouraging different ideas without as many
parameters. I think it is good for administrators to support our K-2
teachers in this area and continue to encourage their efforts.
This is a great observation! Learning through "being" and "doing" is so much more meaningful, and if teachers start with more PBL type units in the earlier grades, the students will be more successful with projects in upper grades. I love seeing what Shanna has done with her kindergartners this year - I think it's a great motivator to early grade teachers that PBL can be done at any level!
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you. My second graders have grown so much through this process. I have seen them apply this new way of thinking and problem solving into other areas. As an educator, when you see students applying what you have taught them into other areas of their life--you know they've GOT IT!!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your statements. I was actually talking to another teacher the other day about teaching science and how science is sometimes perceived as a "vocabulary-based" content area. Your ideas about "doing" instead of just "seeing" or "hearing" is the basis of any good inquiry-based curriculum. I hope more teachers see the merits in teaching this way.
ReplyDeleteHi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100% about how we immerse students in thinking and problem solving in the younger grades but then gradually take those opportunities away as we increase content standards as well as standardized testing. "Sit and get" instead of "Go and do" are what we default too. I am glad that these areas are represented in our new rubric because it provides us with an opportunity each time we plan to consider how we are utilizing them in our planning. Do you mind if I shared your handout with our coaches?
Sincerely,
Dawn
This is such a great post. Developing those inquiry skills in the younger grades is essential to any child's future. When students learn to explain their thinking at a young age, they will naturally do it as they get older. My fourth grade students have sometimes struggled with the thinking component of PBL. They are used to the 'set and get', as Dawn mentioned above, and have forgotten how to think on their own. I tell my students that if there is one thing that I want them to learn, it is how to think. By developing these skills in the younger grades, and then carrying them through to the upper grades, students will learn how to be thinkers. I hope we can encourage this through all teachers!
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome. I loved to see how the younger students are implementing PBL due to their ability to inquire about their learning. Students in K-2 are motivated and ready to learn. I think if teachers push inquiry, problem solving, and critical thinking skill in the lower grades, then when the students reach upper elementary they will use those skills naturally. Being a 5th grade teacher, we are always trying to get the students to think before answering. Every day during my math class, I have students coming to me with nothing on their papers and saying, "I don't get it." I always tell them, "I can't help you until I see your thinking." Students have to learn how to think for themselves to survive in the 21st century.
ReplyDelete