Solving the Problem without Becoming Unstuck or Stuck...

suem0114
Oct 9, 2017
3 min read

I found an interesting article about the liminal space by Berghetto. While he explains how uncomfortable uncertainty is, he proclaims that with appropriate support, uncertainty may be used to develop complex problem-solving skills within the students. There are 5 ways in which the teacher may do this.

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Uncertainty should be seen as a challenge rather than an insurmountable problem. For this to be successful, the uncertainty should be approached with structure or guidance to enable a definition of scope. This is what Hattie was saying in the video on inquiry learning. in my Inquiry vs Project Based Learning post.
Teachers should "unplan" their usual lessons. That is, let the students decide on the process towards a given goal. I have done this on several occasions and been surprised at the result. For example, I had planned a wonderful (Italian) lesson only to discover that the room and the necessary equipment were unavailable. Quickly moving to Plan B... a revision game, without resources. I suggested to the year 6's that if they could come up with a game using said vocab in 5 minutes, we could play it. They did. They organised teams, made vocab lists and an adaption of a game. The loudest, most disruptive student took charge and was the most engaged I had ever seen her. They collaborated, made decisions and played and refereed. They all were most upset at the end of the lesson. Mission accomplished - content and process.

For more investigative lessons, Beghetto suggests that students should be challenged to come up with as many different ways of solving the problem as they can. This teaches students to accept others' ideas and persistence to try another way in times of being stuck in a problem. How many times have we seen the student who has a go, doesn't succeed and then says it is impossible? Open-ended puzzles can be introduced on daily basis to introduce this mindset.

This video is illustrating the use of problem-solving as a means to work through liminality. Although this video refers to college students, I believe the sentiments may be applied to the primary level.

3. Berghetto suggests that the teacher assign a complex problem to solve. Is this referring to inquiry learning? I think so. He suggests that it may be as simple as writing a new ending to a story, or developing a class garden. The greater the uncertainty is, the more complex the problem is. Could we reverse this? The more complex the problem, the greater the uncertainty. Certainly, there are many variables in growing a garden, care by students being just one!

As the video suggests, students need to discuss how to go about solving the problem, identifying possibilities, discussing their various roles. Guidance may be given to students who will decide methods of recording the process and what resources they will use. They must justify their ideas and accept that some ideas may be incorrect. These will have been developed from the daily puzzle exercise.

Depending on their skills, the teacher may break the project into smaller sub-problems, e.g. calculation of dimensions or making a decision to what is relevant to their particular location.

4. Explore other famous solutions.

Berghetto suggests researching beyond the "what" of solved problems and learn about the why, who, how, when, and where of getting to that solution (Root-Bernstein & Root-Bernstein, 2017).

In exploring these solutions, students understand how it takes several attempts from different angles and different people using their knowledge to achieve a new idea.

5. Develop an Ongoing Project

Ah ha! I recognise this from a few projects I have been set to do in my studies!!! .

Rather than complete a project and recall it with fond memories and great jumps in skills and knowledge, then toss all that hard work into the back of a cupboard, Berghetto advocates that the project be an ongoing one, that requires constant up-skilling and evolution according to the conditions. An example may be one of initiating changes to the school playground.

How to design such a project?