Tell Me About … / A Problem-Solving Activity that Energizes Students

Educational Leadership Staff

Instructional Strategies

Storytelling with Robots

What kind of story can you tell with railroad tracks as your setting? We posed this challenge to a small group of first graders as they learned to program robots. Giving students hands-on creation experiences with robots generated excitement while they worked together to imagine a brief narrative. This wasn't a math-based problem-solving activity; it was a math and science-embedded problem of creating something together that was larger than the sum of its parts.

The students immediately thought of using rulers for the tracks. They worked together to adjust the distance setting in the app on their tablets of where the robot would stop and turn to the right. When the programming didn't work the way they wanted, they persisted and figured out what to change regarding speed, direction, and other forces and motions.

Over the next few weeks, the settings changed. The props attached to the robots morphed into whatever matched the students' stories. They split into two teams that programmed the two robots separately to interact within the larger storyline. We snapped photos to use in green-screen app-smashing later. Nothing was off-limits, if it supported their imagined story problems.

—Tori Mazur, digital learning architect, Ephesus Elementary School, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Extended-Learning Programming that Engages

Watch Stephanie Gurule-Leyba, 2017 New Mexico Teacher of the Year, share what motivated her to create a STEAM summer enrichment program for secondary students in Santa Fe's public schools.

Teach to Learn – Mathematics

Creative problem solving truly occurs when students are the facilitators or "teachers." Teach to Learn is a problem-solving protocol that starts with students in groups of two. In 5–8 minutes, each student independently creates their own exemplar problem (typically a word problem) that matches the standard they've been learning. Each student must also have the answer to their created problem, along with the steps they would expect one to take to solve it.

Once all students have created their exemplars, they pair up and hand their problem to their partner. The partners rise from their seats and find a spot along the white board (or grab small personal white boards). Partner 1 will then "teach" Partner 2's problem back to them—remember, Partner 2 knows the answer and how to solve, but they are attentively listening to Partner 1 "teach." After Partner 1 finishes teaching, Partner 2 gives respectful and helpful feedback. The partners switch and perform the same protocol.

—Hunter Dansby, principal resident, former high school math teacher, Duplin County Schools, Warsaw, North Carolina

Solving the Problem of Collaboration

One. Hundred. Eighty. Days. Together. As part of an action research project, I assigned my class of second graders to remain with the same group of tablemates for an entire school year. Any teacher will tell you that changing seats is one of the most useful classroom management strategies to keep sanity in the classroom when students stop getting along … or get along too well.

Each week I incorporated an assignment to improve collaboration skills. In our first activity of the year, each group selected a group name and mascot. Seems simple enough. But each student had their own idea, and it turned into a substantial problem-solving task in itself. Other activities that year included STEM tasks, building props for a performance, group research projects, and more.

Although there were ups and downs, it wasn't just about academics for our class. Out of all my years in the classroom, these students were the most excited about learning together. Relationships were made and strengthened while working together and problem solving through cooperative learning.

—Jennifer Holman, administrative assistant, Augusta Circle Elementary, Greenville County Schools, Greenville, South Carolina

Soup Can Optimization

"Soup can optimization" energizes my calculus class every time. This is a low-floor, high-ceiling problem that any student can take part in. Its premised on the 3-Act Math Task design where students are shown a picture of a grocery store soup aisle with cans of various widths and heights. They generate a question to solve and make initial conjectures about the ideal can size and its corresponding material usage. Given an actual sample of soup cans, students work in groups, using string, rulers, graphing software (Desmos), and derivatives to generate a solution to support their claim. Student groups come up with different results, using concepts from economics, health, and marketing principles to defend their solutions. Students have found that brands may shape their soup can in a way that doesn't minimize the amount of tin, but might maximize revenue for the company. In addition, students' possible errors in their measurements are discussed using differentials to connect the idea of optimization back to error analysis.

—John Kerrigan, K–12 director of mathematics & mathematics adjunct, Middletown Township Public Schools & Rutgers University, Middletown, New Jersey

How to Convince with Media

Students applying elements of argument were given the challenge of presenting a convincing logical argument to support a specific claim regarding a social issue. The revisions to the written argument required student partners to transfer the evidence into a 120-second multimodal format for a virtual audience. Students searched, selected, and taught themselves new internet applications for this task and shared their final products on Instagram and Twitter. Along with learning new web-based applications, students clearly demonstrated a deeper understanding of audience awareness, conciseness and clarity in communication, the power of collaboration for meeting common goals, and the use of audios and visuals in arguments.

—Carol Bruzzano, professor-in-residence, adjunct writing instructor, Montclair State University and William Paterson University, North Arlington, New Jersey

Wondering About Word Problems

Too many times with word problems in math, students read the questions and jump right into solving (see "How old is the Shepherd" by Robert Kaplinsky on YouTube. To slow students down and get them thinking about the problem, I remove the question from the word problem. Then I give students two questions: What do you notice about the problem? What do you wonder about the problem?

In groups, students talk with each other about those questions. One student from each group then comes to the board to share their notice and wonder and explain their reasoning. Once groups are given the actual question, they jump into solving it in their groups, then present their work on the board.

By focusing math classes on higher level questioning through word problems, asking probing questions about the nature of the problem, having group discussions about the problems, and sharing failure/multiple representations, students get to see that math is just a problem-solving strategy and not a series of rules and equations they need to memorize.

—Ryan Lester, instructional coach, Hmong College Prep Academy, Saint Paul, Minnesota

Tackling a Community Problem

As a class we compile a list of problems within our school and greater community. We then categorize them by type of problem (environmental, social, etc.) to understand the possible effects on the community. Students sign up to investigate a problem of their choosing, and decide whether to work individually or with others who signed up for the same problem. From here, the student(s) investigates the problem deeper (Who is involved in the problem? How long has it been happening? What are some possible reasons?), poses a guiding question related to his or her investigation, and outlines which supports might be needed to learn more about it.

Students participate in periodic check-ins throughout the investigation to provide a summary of their progress and to see if any other aids might be needed. At the end of their investigation, students have the opportunity to present to their peers, teachers, administrators, and community members (if applicable) what their problem was, what they discovered, what solution(s) they recommend, and how those solutions would benefit the problem.

—Josh Ogilvie, teacher, Burnaby School District, Burnaby, British Columbia

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