my reflections on problem solving

I agree with everything in the book regarding teaching through problem solving. Very often people say, “The children today are so much smarter then they use to be” I believe that the reason for that lays with the new way of teaching starting in the early years. Educators today gain a much deeper understanding of the value of the thinking process themselves and therefore, are using the skills to challenge their students with more creative and meaningful problem solving tasks. In general, most if not all, teachers share the philosophy of seeing each student as individual and respecting their background, prior knowledge, skills and abilities. Moreover, teachers also share the belief that all children can learn and using the method of scaffolding to help each child to move forward in their own pace and time. In addition, these days educators are putting more emphasis on the learning process vs. only the product and they understand and allow children to reach the conclusion using their own method. This defiantly increases the learner’s confidence and self esteem. It also helps develop the idea that everyone can be good at math and it is not a field just for the ‘top’ or ‘the smarter’ or even only for the ‘boys’ in the class.

I thoroughly enjoyed working on the group project using the MRT station as our base to explore mathematical concepts. It was fun to see the enthusiasm we all shared and the learning experiences/lessons that we were able to develop by using the environment. I believe that the concepts we are introducing in our plan are considered problem solving skills as by engaging in them, the children’s intellect can grow, they are able to link it to their daily lives and the learning will be fun and meaningful.