Incorporating problem solving into our teaching of English and maths
Gail Lydon Gail is a teacher/tutor and teacher trainer
When I was at school, problem solving in mathematics involved textbook examples I had to first calculate, and then check against the answer at the back of the textbook. Thankfully those days have gone. Problem solving in mathematics today is about knowing how to model everyday life in numbers, choose calculations and then decide what the results tell us. It is about practical application in life, learning and work contexts.
and UCU conference on 2 October 2013. My particular focus was looking at English and maths functional skills and how we might teach these using a problem-solving approach. Many learners in England are now studying Functional Skills in further education, adult and community learning, and in secure contexts. For some this is a useful qualification in its own right and for others it is a stepping-stone to the General Certificate in Secondary Education (GCSE).
I was delighted to run a short activity session looking at problem solving at the Annual 2013 NIACE, RaPAL nd
Why problem solving? Problem solving approaches are often more engaging for the learner because they are goal-oriented, contextual, interesting, challenging and interactive.
Problem solving is an integral part of Functional Skills. This is perhaps not clear from the subject criteria of English, maths and ICT, but is clearly outlined in the Qualification Criteria which overarches all three subjects here
andhere .
The Qualification Criteria states that assessment must: • provide realistic contexts, scenarios and problems • specify tasks that are relevant to the context • require application of knowledge, skills and understanding for a purpose • require problem solving
Hence we must provide opportunities for our learners to learn through such scenarios and problems in a purposeful way.
Initial assessment One of the big issues that comes up straightaway is initial assessment. How can we initially assess our learners' problem solving skills? The delegates modeled a possible way of doing this. In groups of three, one delegate acted as learner, one as tutor and one as observer. Using images of problems the “learner” was encouraged by the “tutor” to describe the problem he or she saw in the image. These images can be familiar or unfamiliar depending on the level of functional skills your learners are working towards. In this way you will stretch the learners' understanding of problems in a range of contexts. The “observer” noted the questions asked and the approaches taken by the “tutor”. The room was filled with highly skilled practitioners and this resulted in a long and useful list of questions and approaches. This approach could of course be used as a group activity. Questions included:
• Can you describe the problem? • What do you see in the picture? • What information do you need to solve the problem? • Do you have all the information you need to solve the problem? • Do you have the skills to solve the problem?
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