Keep on blogging!

While surfing the internet, I came across the following blogs that were meaningful to this week’s topics of problem solving methods. They are http://www.edutopia.org/blog/design-thinking-betty-ray and http://www.mathgoodies.com/articles/problem_solving.html  As an elementary teacher I am always interested in reading about different developments in the field of education. 

The first blog from Edutopia.org is written by Betty Ray. She writes about the idea of “Design thinking, which is a dynamic, creative and collaborative approach to problem solving, presents a unique model for educators who wish to facilitate from within the class, rather than impart knowledge to it.” (Ray, 2012).  Participants are expected to solve problems by finding and sorting through information, collaborating with others, and iterating their solutions based on real world, authentic experience and feedback.  In design thinking participants work in groups and work through the six different steps of: 1) Identify Opportunity, 2) Design 3) Prototype 4) Get Feedback 5)Scale and Spread and 6) Present. This idea is a unique approach and focuses on people having to work together through these steps to solve problems. This approach could be adapted to serve those students in the younger grade levels.

The second blog I found was on mathgoodies.com.  It discusses how problem solving is an important component of mathematics education because it is the single vehicle which seems to be able to achieve the function, logical and aesthetic levels of thinking. Knowing how to do math is essential due to it practical role to individuals in society. By using a problem solving approach skills can be developed that are needed to solve the problem in context, thus making the connection between mere classwork and real life experiences. There are many different ideas on this website as well in addition to blogs.