Problem: Solved!

Think back to when you were in school... Visualize the classroom, your classmates and your teacher. What does the classroom look like? What is the teacher doing? I would be willing to bet that many of you are picturing a classroom with attentive students seated in rows and a teacher lecturing at the front of the room. Unfortunately, this is what many typically picture when thinking about an American classroom.

All too often, teachers utilize lecturing to deliver content. While lecturing does have its perks, and can be an effective teaching method, it is certainly not a technique that should be utilized for every lesson. Variety is key in education, and perhaps one of the best ways to ensure variety is to utilize a range of teaching techniques, including problem solving.

Problem solving can bring a whole new outlook to your classroom. Not only do students become more involved in the lesson, but they also gain a sense of ownership, when they have a hand at figuring out the problem. Problem solving promotes real-world application and higher order thinking. These skills are essential in many aspects of life and in today's job market.

While the problem solving technique can be extremely effective, it can be scary to pre-service or new teachers. This week's reading suggested that teachers often resort to lecturing to deliver content because it is familiar and comfortable. Problem solving is not. Problem solving requires that teachers "let go of the reigns" and allow their students to essentially teach themselves the content through inquiry and investigation. This leaves a lot of room for misunderstanding or confusion.

However, this can be avoided by planning and implementing the problem solving technique properly. The teacher should make an effort to structure the problems in such a way that requires students to actively think in order to come up with a solution. Problem solving does not always have to have a right or a wrong answer. In fact, some of the best problems have infinite answers that stem from complex questions, requiring students to think on a higher level and apply their previous knowledge. An example of such a question would be "how do we solve global warming?".

In conclusion, I am looking forward to utilizing problem solving in my own classroom, in order to promote higher-level thinking and utilize a variety of teaching techniques. I hope that when my future students are asked to "think back to when they were in school" and to "picture the classroom and teacher", they do not picture me lecturing to them. Instead, I want them to picture a classroom where learning is fostered through interactive activities, such as problem solving.