Need to solve a tough problem? A study published o

Teaching Kids to Make Better Choices Through
"Problem Solving" Procedures

Be a thinker, not a stinker.
 

This page contains descriptions of four different problem solving procedures.  The goal of problem solving is to provide students with a mechanism for making good choices about how to respond to important life decisions, or act/react in various situations.

1. From Theory To Practice:
Guided Problem Solving In Action
By Mary Beth Hewitt (This article is reprinted from CHOICES with the permission of Mary Beth Hewitt.  For more information, go to the bottom of this article.
 

     I recently had the good fortune of observing a teacher of the emotionally handicapped implementing a guided problem solving process with two kindergarten-aged students in her class.  The students were about to start a lesson on letter-sound correspondence.  The teacher was going to play an audio-tape.  The students were to chose from a variety of items, to help them follow along.  The problem arose when two boys both wanted the same item, an alphabet book. (Names have been changed.)

Alan:  I want it.

Bart:  I want It.  (Turning to the teacher)  He had it last week.

Teacher:  You boys have a problem.  You both want the same book.  How can you solve your problem?  (Statement of problem & identification of who “owns” the problem)

Bart:  But he had it last week!

Teacher:  That was last week.  You have a problem today.

Bart:  We could share.

Alan:  I don’t want to share.

Teacher:  Your friend Bart is willing to share.  You don’t want to share.  (Refinement of problem)  Do you have another suggestion?  (Generate alternatives.)

Alan:  No.

Teacher:  (To Alan)  How do you think your friend might feel if you get the book?  (Evaluation of possible solution)

Alan:  He’ll be sad.

Teacher:  (To Bart)  How do you think your friend might feel if you get the book?  (Evaluation of possible solution)

Bart:  He’ll be sad too.

Teacher:  (To both boys)  Is that what you want to happen?

Alan:  No!  Bart is my friend.  We can share.

Bart:  Thanks Alan.  You can point to the first one and I’ll point to the second one.  We can take turns.

Alan:  Thanks!
 
 

    The two boys went happily off with the book and worked well together for the entire activity.  At the end of the lesson, the teacher asked them, “How did the sharing go?”  (Follow-up evaluation)  “Great!” they both answered.  She asked, “Is that something you can do

Need to solve a tough problem? A study published online February 11 in 

If you want to convince the world that a fish can sense your emotions, only one statistical measure will suffice: the p-value.

The p-value is an all-purpose measure that scientists often use to determine whether or not an experimental result is “statistically significant.” Unfortunately, sometimes the test does not work as advertised, and researchers imbue an observation with great significance when in fact it might be a worthless fluke.

Say you’ve performed a scientific experiment testing a new heart attack drug against a placebo. At the end of the trial, you compare the two groups. Lo and behold, the patients who took the drug had fewer heart attacks than those who took the placebo. Success! The drug works!

The Colchester Zoo in England is home to a community of mandrills, the largest of the monkeys. One of these mandrills, a female named Milly, began covering her eyes with her hand when she was three. A dozen years later Milly and her zoo mates continue to perform this gesture, which appears to mean “do not disturb.” The signal is the first gesture with cultural roots reported in monkeys.

Culture accounts for behavioral differences that are geo­graphic, rather

For many of us, waking up in the morning is the toughest part of the day. It turns out that some flies have the same problem, according to research published this past February in