problem solving skills in students

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Strategies to develop problem-solving skills in students.

• November 14, 2023

Students need the freedom to brainstorm, develop solutions and make mistakes — this is truly the only way to prepare them for life outside the classroom. When students are immersed in a learning environment that only offers them step-by-step guides and encourages them to focus solely on memorisation, they are not gaining the skills necessary to help them navigate in the complex, interconnected environment of the real world.

Choosing a school that emphasises the importance of future-focussed skills will ensure your child has the abilities they need to survive and thrive anywhere in the world. What are future-focussed skills? Students who are prepared for the future need to possess highly developed communication skills, self-management skills, research skills, thinking skills, social skills and problem-solving skills. In this blog, I would like to focus on problem-solving skills.

What Are Problem-Solving Skills?

The Forage defines problem-solving skills as those that allow an individual to identify a problem, come up with solutions, analyse the options and collaborate to find the best solution for the issue.

Importance of Problem-Solving in the Classroom Setting

Learning how to solve problems effectively and positively is a crucial part of child development. When children are allowed to solve problems in a classroom setting, they can test those skills in a safe and nurturing environment. Generally, when they face age-appropriate issues, they can begin building those skills in a healthy and positive manner.

Without exposure to challenging situations and scenarios, children will not be equipped with the foundational problem-solving skills needed to tackle complex issues in the real world. Experts predict that problem-solving skills will eventually be more sought after in job applicants than hard skills related to that specific profession. Students must be given opportunities in school to resolve conflicts, address complex problems and come up with their own solutions in order to develop these skills.

Benefits of Problem-Solving Skills for Students

Learning how to solve problems offers students many advantages, such as:

Improving Academic Results

When students have a well-developed set of problem-solving skills, they are often better critical and analytical thinkers as well. They are able to effectively use these 21st-century skills when completing their coursework, allowing them to become more successful in all academic areas. By prioritising problem-solving strategies in the classroom, teachers often find that academic performance improves.

Developing Confidence

Giving students the freedom to solve problems and create their own solutions is essentially permitting them to make their own choices. This sense of independence — and the natural resilience that comes with it — allows students to become confident learners who aren’t intimidated by new or challenging situations. Ultimately, this prepares them to take on more complex challenges in the future, both on a professional and social level.

Preparing Students for Real-World Challenges

The challenges we are facing today are only growing more complex, and by the time students have graduated, they are going to be facing issues that we may not even have imagined. By arming them with real-world problem-solving experience, they will not feel intimidated or stifled by those challenges; they will be excited and ready to address them. They will know how to discuss their ideas with others, respect various perspectives and collaborate to develop a solution that best benefits everyone involved.

The Best Problem-Solving Strategies for Students

No single approach or strategy will instil a set of problem-solving skills in students.  Every child is different, so educators should rely on a variety of strategies to develop this core competency in their students.  It is best if these skills are developed naturally.

These are some of the best strategies to support students problem-solving skills:

Project-Based Learning

By providing students with project-based learning experiences and allowing plenty of time for discussion, educators can watch students put their problem-solving skills into action inside their classrooms. This strategy is one of the most effective ways to fine-tune problem-solving skills in students.  During project-based learning, teachers may take notes on how the students approach a problem and then offer feedback to students for future development. Teachers can address their observations of interactions during project-based learning at the group level or they can work with students on an individual basis to help them become more effective problem-solvers.

Encourage Discussion and Collaboration in the Classroom Setting

Another strategy to encourage the development of problem-solving skills in students is to allow for plenty of discussion and collaboration in the classroom setting.  When students interact with one another, they are naturally developing problem solving skills.  Rather than the teacher delivering information and requiring the students to passively receive information, students can share thoughts and ideas with one another.  Getting students to generate their own discussion and communication requires thinking skills. 

Utilising an Inquiry-Based approach to Learning

Students should be presented with situations in which their curiosity is sparked and they are motivated to inquire further. Teachers should ask open-ended questions and encourage students to develop responses which require problem-solving. By providing students with complex questions for which a variety of answers may be correct, teachers get students to consider different perspectives and deal with potential disagreement, which requires problem-solving skills to resolve.

Model Appropriate Problem-Solving Skills

One of the simplest ways to instil effective problem-solving skills in students is to model appropriate and respectful strategies and behaviour when resolving a conflict or addressing an issue. Teachers can showcase their problem-solving skills by:

• Identifying a problem when they come across one for the class to see
• Brainstorming possible solutions with students
• Collaborating with students to decide on the best solution
• Testing that solution and examining the results with the students
• Adapting as necessary to improve results or achieve the desired goal

Prioritise Student Agency in Learning

Recent research shows that self-directed learning is one of the most effective ways to nurture 21st-century competency development in young learners. Learning experiences that encourage student agency often require problem-solving skills.  When creativity and innovation are needed, students often encounter unexpected problems along the way that must be solved. Through self-directed learning, students experience challenges in a natural situation and can fine-tune their problem-solving skills along the way.  Self-directed learning provides them with a foundation in problem-solving that they can build upon in the future, allowing them to eventually develop more advanced and impactful problem-solving skills for real life.

21st-Century Skill Development at OWIS Singapore

Problem-solving has been identified as one of the core competencies that young learners must develop to be prepared to meet the dynamic needs of a global environment.  At OWIS Singapore, we have implemented an inquiry-driven, skills-based curriculum that allows students to organically develop critical future-ready skills — including problem-solving.  Our hands-on approach to education enables students to collaborate, explore, innovate, face-challenges, make mistakes and adapt as necessary.  As such, they learn problem-solving skills in an authentic manner.

For more information about 21st-century skill development, schedule a campus tour today.

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Teaching problem solving: Let students get ‘stuck’ and ‘unstuck’

Subscribe to the center for universal education bulletin, kate mills and km kate mills literacy interventionist - red bank primary school helyn kim helyn kim former brookings expert @helyn_kim.

October 31, 2017

This is the second in a six-part  blog series  on  teaching 21st century skills , including  problem solving ,  metacognition , critical thinking , and collaboration , in classrooms.

In the real world, students encounter problems that are complex, not well defined, and lack a clear solution and approach. They need to be able to identify and apply different strategies to solve these problems. However, problem solving skills do not necessarily develop naturally; they need to be explicitly taught in a way that can be transferred across multiple settings and contexts.

Here’s what Kate Mills, who taught 4 th grade for 10 years at Knollwood School in New Jersey and is now a Literacy Interventionist at Red Bank Primary School, has to say about creating a classroom culture of problem solvers:

Helping my students grow to be people who will be successful outside of the classroom is equally as important as teaching the curriculum. From the first day of school, I intentionally choose language and activities that help to create a classroom culture of problem solvers. I want to produce students who are able to think about achieving a particular goal and manage their mental processes . This is known as metacognition , and research shows that metacognitive skills help students become better problem solvers.

I begin by “normalizing trouble” in the classroom. Peter H. Johnston teaches the importance of normalizing struggle , of naming it, acknowledging it, and calling it what it is: a sign that we’re growing. The goal is for the students to accept challenge and failure as a chance to grow and do better.

I look for every chance to share problems and highlight how the students— not the teachers— worked through those problems. There is, of course, coaching along the way. For example, a science class that is arguing over whose turn it is to build a vehicle will most likely need a teacher to help them find a way to the balance the work in an equitable way. Afterwards, I make it a point to turn it back to the class and say, “Do you see how you …” By naming what it is they did to solve the problem , students can be more independent and productive as they apply and adapt their thinking when engaging in future complex tasks.

After a few weeks, most of the class understands that the teachers aren’t there to solve problems for the students, but to support them in solving the problems themselves. With that important part of our classroom culture established, we can move to focusing on the strategies that students might need.

Here’s one way I do this in the classroom:

I show the broken escalator video to the class. Since my students are fourth graders, they think it’s hilarious and immediately start exclaiming, “Just get off! Walk!”

When the video is over, I say, “Many of us, probably all of us, are like the man in the video yelling for help when we get stuck. When we get stuck, we stop and immediately say ‘Help!’ instead of embracing the challenge and trying new ways to work through it.” I often introduce this lesson during math class, but it can apply to any area of our lives, and I can refer to the experience and conversation we had during any part of our day.

Research shows that just because students know the strategies does not mean they will engage in the appropriate strategies. Therefore, I try to provide opportunities where students can explicitly practice learning how, when, and why to use which strategies effectively  so that they can become self-directed learners.

For example, I give students a math problem that will make many of them feel “stuck”. I will say, “Your job is to get yourselves stuck—or to allow yourselves to get stuck on this problem—and then work through it, being mindful of how you’re getting yourselves unstuck.” As students work, I check-in to help them name their process: “How did you get yourself unstuck?” or “What was your first step? What are you doing now? What might you try next?” As students talk about their process, I’ll add to a list of strategies that students are using and, if they are struggling, help students name a specific process. For instance, if a student says he wrote the information from the math problem down and points to a chart, I will say: “Oh that’s interesting. You pulled the important information from the problem out and organized it into a chart.” In this way, I am giving him the language to match what he did, so that he now has a strategy he could use in other times of struggle.

The charts grow with us over time and are something that we refer to when students are stuck or struggling. They become a resource for students and a way for them to talk about their process when they are reflecting on and monitoring what did or did not work.

For me, as a teacher, it is important that I create a classroom environment in which students are problem solvers. This helps tie struggles to strategies so that the students will not only see value in working harder but in working smarter by trying new and different strategies and revising their process. In doing so, they will more successful the next time around.

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Teaching problem solving.

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Tips and Techniques

Expert vs. novice problem solvers, communicate.

• Have students  identify specific problems, difficulties, or confusions . Don’t waste time working through problems that students already understand.
• If students are unable to articulate their concerns, determine where they are having trouble by  asking them to identify the specific concepts or principles associated with the problem.
• In a one-on-one tutoring session, ask the student to  work his/her problem out loud . This slows down the thinking process, making it more accurate and allowing you to access understanding.
• When working with larger groups you can ask students to provide a written “two-column solution.” Have students write up their solution to a problem by putting all their calculations in one column and all of their reasoning (in complete sentences) in the other column. This helps them to think critically about their own problem solving and helps you to more easily identify where they may be having problems. Two-Column Solution (Math) Two-Column Solution (Physics)

Encourage Independence

• Model the problem solving process rather than just giving students the answer. As you work through the problem, consider how a novice might struggle with the concepts and make your thinking clear
• Have students work through problems on their own. Ask directing questions or give helpful suggestions, but  provide only minimal assistance and only when needed to overcome obstacles.
• Don’t fear  group work ! Students can frequently help each other, and talking about a problem helps them think more critically about the steps needed to solve the problem. Additionally, group work helps students realize that problems often have multiple solution strategies, some that might be more effective than others

Be sensitive

• Frequently, when working problems, students are unsure of themselves. This lack of confidence may hamper their learning. It is important to recognize this when students come to us for help, and to give each student some feeling of mastery. Do this by providing  positive reinforcement to let students know when they have mastered a new concept or skill.

Encourage Thoroughness and Patience

• Try to communicate that  the process is more important than the answer so that the student learns that it is OK to not have an instant solution. This is learned through your acceptance of his/her pace of doing things, through your refusal to let anxiety pressure you into giving the right answer, and through your example of problem solving through a step-by step process.

Experts (teachers) in a particular field are often so fluent in solving problems from that field that they can find it difficult to articulate the problem solving principles and strategies they use to novices (students) in their field because these principles and strategies are second nature to the expert. To teach students problem solving skills,  a teacher should be aware of principles and strategies of good problem solving in his or her discipline .

The mathematician George Polya captured the problem solving principles and strategies he used in his discipline in the book  How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method (Princeton University Press, 1957). The book includes  a summary of Polya’s problem solving heuristic as well as advice on the teaching of problem solving.

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• Problem Solving in STEM

Solving problems is a key component of many science, math, and engineering classes.  If a goal of a class is for students to emerge with the ability to solve new kinds of problems or to use new problem-solving techniques, then students need numerous opportunities to develop the skills necessary to approach and answer different types of problems.  Problem solving during section or class allows students to develop their confidence in these skills under your guidance, better preparing them to succeed on their homework and exams. This page offers advice about strategies for facilitating problem solving during class.

How do I decide which problems to cover in section or class?

In-class problem solving should reinforce the major concepts from the class and provide the opportunity for theoretical concepts to become more concrete. If students have a problem set for homework, then in-class problem solving should prepare students for the types of problems that they will see on their homework. You may wish to include some simpler problems both in the interest of time and to help students gain confidence, but it is ideal if the complexity of at least some of the in-class problems mirrors the level of difficulty of the homework. You may also want to ask your students ahead of time which skills or concepts they find confusing, and include some problems that are directly targeted to their concerns.

You have given your students a problem to solve in class. What are some strategies to work through it?

• Try to give your students a chance to grapple with the problems as much as possible.  Offering them the chance to do the problem themselves allows them to learn from their mistakes in the presence of your expertise as their teacher. (If time is limited, they may not be able to get all the way through multi-step problems, in which case it can help to prioritize giving them a chance to tackle the most challenging steps.)
• When you do want to teach by solving the problem yourself at the board, talk through the logic of how you choose to apply certain approaches to solve certain problems.  This way you can externalize the type of thinking you hope your students internalize when they solve similar problems themselves.
• Start by setting up the problem on the board (e.g you might write down key variables and equations; draw a figure illustrating the question).  Ask students to start solving the problem, either independently or in small groups.  As they are working on the problem, walk around to hear what they are saying and see what they are writing down. If several students seem stuck, it might be a good to collect the whole class again to clarify any confusion.  After students have made progress, bring the everyone back together and have students guide you as to what to write on the board.
• It can help to first ask students to work on the problem by themselves for a minute, and then get into small groups to work on the problem collaboratively.
• If you have ample board space, have students work in small groups at the board while solving the problem.  That way you can monitor their progress by standing back and watching what they put up on the board.
• If you have several problems you would like to have the students practice, but not enough time for everyone to do all of them, you can assign different groups of students to work on different – but related - problems.

When do you want students to work in groups to solve problems?

• Don’t ask students to work in groups for straightforward problems that most students could solve independently in a short amount of time.
• Do have students work in groups for thought-provoking problems, where students will benefit from meaningful collaboration.
• Even in cases where you plan to have students work in groups, it can be useful to give students some time to work on their own before collaborating with others.  This ensures that every student engages with the problem and is ready to contribute to a discussion.

What are some benefits of having students work in groups?

• Students bring different strengths, different knowledge, and different ideas for how to solve a problem; collaboration can help students work through problems that are more challenging than they might be able to tackle on their own.
• In working in a group, students might consider multiple ways to approach a problem, thus enriching their repertoire of strategies.
• Students who think they understand the material will gain a deeper understanding by explaining concepts to their peers.

What are some strategies for helping students to form groups?  

• Instruct students to work with the person (or people) sitting next to them.
• Count off.  (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4; all the 1’s find each other and form a group, etc)
• Hand out playing cards; students need to find the person with the same number card. (There are many variants to this.  For example, you can print pictures of images that go together [rain and umbrella]; each person gets a card and needs to find their partner[s].)
• Based on what you know about the students, assign groups in advance. List the groups on the board.
• Note: Always have students take the time to introduce themselves to each other in a new group.

What should you do while your students are working on problems?

• Walk around and talk to students. Observing their work gives you a sense of what people understand and what they are struggling with. Answer students’ questions, and ask them questions that lead in a productive direction if they are stuck.
• If you discover that many people have the same question—or that someone has a misunderstanding that others might have—you might stop everyone and discuss a key idea with the entire class.

After students work on a problem during class, what are strategies to have them share their answers and their thinking?

• Ask for volunteers to share answers. Depending on the nature of the problem, student might provide answers verbally or by writing on the board. As a variant, for questions where a variety of answers are relevant, ask for at least three volunteers before anyone shares their ideas.
• Use online polling software for students to respond to a multiple-choice question anonymously.
• If students are working in groups, assign reporters ahead of time. For example, the person with the next birthday could be responsible for sharing their group’s work with the class.
• Cold call. To reduce student anxiety about cold calling, it can help to identify students who seem to have the correct answer as you were walking around the class and checking in on their progress solving the assigned problem. You may even want to warn the student ahead of time: "This is a great answer! Do you mind if I call on you when we come back together as a class?"
• Have students write an answer on a notecard that they turn in to you.  If your goal is to understand whether students in general solved a problem correctly, the notecards could be submitted anonymously; if you wish to assess individual students’ work, you would want to ask students to put their names on their notecard.  
• Use a jigsaw strategy, where you rearrange groups such that each new group is comprised of people who came from different initial groups and had solved different problems.  Students now are responsible for teaching the other students in their new group how to solve their problem.
• Have a representative from each group explain their problem to the class.
• Have a representative from each group draw or write the answer on the board.

What happens if a student gives a wrong answer?

• Ask for their reasoning so that you can understand where they went wrong.
• Ask if anyone else has other ideas. You can also ask this sometimes when an answer is right.
• Cultivate an environment where it’s okay to be wrong. Emphasize that you are all learning together, and that you learn through making mistakes.
• Do make sure that you clarify what the correct answer is before moving on.
• Once the correct answer is given, go through some answer-checking techniques that can distinguish between correct and incorrect answers. This can help prepare students to verify their future work.

How can you make your classroom inclusive?

• The goal is that everyone is thinking, talking, and sharing their ideas, and that everyone feels valued and respected. Use a variety of teaching strategies (independent work and group work; allow students to talk to each other before they talk to the class). Create an environment where it is normal to struggle and make mistakes.
• See Kimberly Tanner’s article on strategies to promoste student engagement and cultivate classroom equity. 

A few final notes…

• Make sure that you have worked all of the problems and also thought about alternative approaches to solving them.
• Board work matters. You should have a plan beforehand of what you will write on the board, where, when, what needs to be added, and what can be erased when. If students are going to write their answers on the board, you need to also have a plan for making sure that everyone gets to the correct answer. Students will copy what is on the board and use it as their notes for later study, so correct and logical information must be written there.

For more information...

Tipsheet: Problem Solving in STEM Sections

Tanner, K. D. (2013). Structure matters: twenty-one teaching strategies to promote student engagement and cultivate classroom equity . CBE-Life Sciences Education, 12(3), 322-331.

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Developing Problem-Solving Skills for Kids | Strategies & Tips

We've made teaching problem-solving skills for kids a whole lot easier! Keep reading and comment below with any other tips you have for your classroom!

Problem-Solving Skills for Kids: The Real Deal

Picture this: You've carefully created an assignment for your class. The step-by-step instructions are crystal clear. During class time, you walk through all the directions, and the response is awesome. Your students are ready! It's finally time for them to start working individually and then... 8 hands shoot up with questions. You hear one student mumble in the distance, "Wait, I don't get this" followed by the dreaded, "What are we supposed to be doing again?"

When I was a new computer science teacher, I would have this exact situation happen. As a result, I would end up scrambling to help each individual student with their problems until half the class period was eaten up. I assumed that in order for my students to learn best, I needed to be there to help answer questions immediately so they could move forward and complete the assignment.

Here's what I wish I had known when I started teaching coding to elementary students - the process of grappling with an assignment's content can be more important than completing the assignment's product. That said, not every student knows how to grapple, or struggle, in order to get to the "aha!" moment and solve a problem independently. The good news is, the ability to creatively solve problems is not a fixed skill. It can be learned by students, nurtured by teachers, and practiced by everyone!

Your students are absolutely capable of navigating and solving problems on their own. Here are some strategies, tips, and resources that can help:

Problem-Solving Skills for Kids: Student Strategies

These are strategies your students can use during independent work time to become creative problem solvers.

1. Go Step-By-Step Through The Problem-Solving Sequence 

Post problem-solving anchor charts and references on your classroom wall or pin them to your Google Classroom - anything to make them accessible to students. When they ask for help, invite them to reference the charts first.

2. Revisit Past Problems

If a student gets stuck, they should ask themself, "Have I ever seen a problem like this before? If so, how did I solve it?" Chances are, your students have tackled something similar already and can recycle the same strategies they used before to solve the problem this time around.

3. Document What Doesn’t Work

Sometimes finding the answer to a problem requires the process of elimination. Have your students attempt to solve a problem at least two different ways before reaching out to you for help. Even better, encourage them write down their "Not-The-Answers" so you can see their thought process when you do step in to support. Cool thing is, you likely won't need to! By attempting to solve a problem in multiple different ways, students will often come across the answer on their own.

4. "3 Before Me"

Let's say your students have gone through the Problem Solving Process, revisited past problems, and documented what doesn't work. Now, they know it's time to ask someone for help. Great! But before you jump into save the day, practice "3 Before Me". This means students need to ask 3 other classmates their question before asking the teacher. By doing this, students practice helpful 21st century skills like collaboration and communication, and can usually find the info they're looking for on the way.

Problem-Solving Skills for Kids: Teacher Tips

These are tips that you, the teacher, can use to support students in developing creative problem-solving skills for kids.

1. Ask Open Ended Questions

When a student asks for help, it can be tempting to give them the answer they're looking for so you can both move on. But what this actually does is prevent the student from developing the skills needed to solve the problem on their own. Instead of giving answers, try using open-ended questions and prompts. Here are some examples:

2. Encourage Grappling

Grappling  is everything a student might do when faced with a problem that does not have a clear solution. As explained in this article from Edutopia , this doesn't just mean perseverance! Grappling is more than that - it includes critical thinking, asking questions, observing evidence, asking more questions, forming hypotheses, and constructing a deep understanding of an issue.

There are lots of ways to provide opportunities for grappling. Anything that includes the Engineering Design Process is a good one! Examples include:

• Engineering or Art Projects
• Design-thinking challenges
• Computer science projects
• Science experiments

3. Emphasize Process Over Product

For elementary students, reflecting on the process of solving a problem helps them develop a growth mindset . Getting an answer "wrong" doesn't need to be a bad thing! What matters most are the steps they took to get there and how they might change their approach next time. As a teacher, you can support students in learning this reflection process.

4. Model The Strategies Yourself! 

As creative problem-solving skills for kids are being learned, there will likely be moments where they are frustrated or unsure. Here are some easy ways you can model what creative problem-solving looks and sounds like.

• Ask clarifying questions if you don't understand something
• Admit when don't know the correct answer
• Talk through multiple possible outcomes for different situations 
• Verbalize how you’re feeling when you find a problem

Practicing these strategies with your students will help create a learning environment where grappling, failing, and growing is celebrated!

Problem-Solving Skill for Kids

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8 Chapter 6 Supporting Student Problem-Solving

Across content areas, the standards address problem-solving in the form of being able to improvise, decide, inquire, and research. In fact, math and science standards are premised almost completely on problem-solving and inquiry. According to the literature, however, problem-solving and inquiry are often overlooked or addressed only superficially in classrooms, and in some subject areas, are not attended to at all.

OVERVIEW OF PROBLEM-SOLVING AND INQUIRY IN K–12 CLASSROOMS

In keeping with a learning focus, this chapter first discusses problem-solving and inquiry to provide a basis from which teachers can provide support for these goals with technology.

What Is Problem-solving?

Whereas production is a process that focuses on an end-product, problem-solving is a process that centers on a problem. Students apply critical and creative thinking skills to prior knowledge during the problem-solving process. The end result of problem-solving is typically some kind of decision, in other words, choosing a solution and then evaluating it.

There are two general kinds of problems. Close-ended problems are those with known solutions to which students can apply a process similar to one that they have already used. For example, if a student understands the single-digit process in adding 2 plus 2 to make 4, she most likely will be able to solve a problem that asks her to add 1 plus 1. Open-ended or loosely structured problems, on the other hand, are those with many or unknown solutions rather than one correct answer. These types of problems require the ability to apply a variety of strategies and knowledge to finding a solution. For example, an open-ended problem statement might read:

A politician has just discovered information showing that a statement he made to the public earlier in the week was incorrect. If he corrects himself he will look like a fool, but if he doesn’t and someone finds out the truth, he will be in trouble. What should he do or say about this?

Obviously, there is no simple answer to this question, and there is a lot of information to consider.

Many textbooks, teachers, and tests present or ask only for the results of problem-solving and not the whole process that students must go through in thinking about how to arrive at a viable solution. As a result, according to the literature, most people use their personal understandings to try to solve open-ended problems, but the bias of limited experience makes it hard for people to understand the trade-offs or contradictions that these problems present. To solve such problems, students need to be able to use both problem-solving skills and an effective inquiry process.

What Is Inquiry?

Inquiry in education is also sometimes called research, investigation, or guided discovery. During inquiry, students ask questions and then search for answers to those questions. In doing so, they come to new understandings in content and language. Although inquiry is an instructional strategy in itself, it is also a central component of problem-solving when students apply their new understandings to the problem at hand. Each question that the problem raises must be addressed by thorough and systematic investigation to arrive at a well-grounded solution. Therefore, the term “problem-solving” can be considered to include inquiry.

For students to understand both the question and ways of looking at the answer(s), resources such as historical accounts, literature, art, and eyewitness experiences must be used. In addition, each resource must be examined in light of what each different type of material contributes to the solution. Critical literacy, or reading beyond the text, then, is a fundamental aspect of inquiry and so of problem-solving. Search for critical literacy resources by using “critical literacy” and your grade level, and be sure to look at the tools provided in this text’s Teacher Toolbox.

What Is Problem-Based Learning?

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a teaching approach that combines critical thinking, problem- solving skills, and inquiry as students explore real-world problems. It is based on unstructured, complex, and authentic problems that are often presented as part of a project. PBL addresses many of the learning goals presented in this text and across the standards, including communication, creativity, and often production.

Research is being conducted in every area from business to education to see how we solve problems, what guides us, what information we have and use during problem-solving, and how we can become more efficient problem solvers. There are competing theories of how people learn to and do solve problems, and much more research needs to be done. However, we do know several things. First, problem-solving can depend on the context, the participants, and the stakeholders. In addition, studies show that content appears to be covered better by “traditional” instruction, but students retain better after problem-solving. PBL has been found effective at teaching content and problem-solving, and the use of technology can make those gains even higher (Chauhan, 2017). Research clearly shows that the more parts of a problem there are, the less successful students will be at solving it. However, effective scaffolding can help to support students’ problem-solving and overcomes some of the potential issues with it (Belland, Walker, Kim, & Lefler, 2017).

The PBL literature points out that both content knowledge and problem-solving skills are necessary to arrive at solutions, but individual differences among students affect their success, too. For example, field-independent students in general do better than field-dependent students in tasks. In addition, students from some cultures will not be familiar with this kind of learning, and others may not have the language to work with it. Teachers must consider all of these ideas and challenges in supporting student problem-solving.

Characteristics of effective technology-enhanced problem-based learning tasks

PBL tasks share many of the same characteristics of other tasks in this book, but some are specific to PBL. Generally, PBL tasks:

Involve learners in gaining and organizing knowledge of content. Inspiration and other concept-mapping tools like the app Popplet are useful for this.

Help learners link school activities to life, providing the “why” for doing the activity.

Give students control of their learning.

Have built-in and just-in-time scaffolding to help students. Tutorials are available all over the Web for content, language, and technology help.

Are fun and interesting.

Contain specific objectives for students to meet along the way to a larger goal.

Have guidance for the use of tools, especially computer technologies.

Include communication and collaboration (described in chapter 3).

Emphasize the process and the content.

Are central to the curriculum, not peripheral or time fillers.

Lead to additional content learning.

Have a measurable, although not necessarily correct, outcome.

More specifically, PBL tasks:

Use a problem that “appeals to human desire for resolution/stasis/harmony” and “sets up need for and context of learning which follows” (IMSA, 2005, p. 2).

Help students understand the range of problem-solving mechanisms available.

Focus on the merits of the question, the concepts involved, and student research plans.

Provide opportunities for students to examine the process of getting the answer (for example, looking back at the arguments).

Lead to additional “transfer” problems that use the knowledge gained in a different context.

Not every task necessarily exhibits all of these characteristics completely, but these lists can serve as guidelines for creating and evaluating tasks.

Student benefits of problem-solving

There are many potential benefits of using PBL in classrooms at all levels; however, the benefits depend on how well this strategy is employed. With effective PBL, students can become more engaged in their learning and empowered to become more autonomous in classroom work. This, in turn, may lead to improved attitudes about the classroom and thus to other gains such as increased abilities for social-problem solving. Students can gain a deeper understanding of concepts, acquire skills necessary in the real world, and transfer skills to become independent and self-directed learners and thinkers outside of school. For example, when students are encouraged to practice using problem-solving skills across a variety of situations, they gain experience in discovering not only different methods but which method to apply to what kind of problem. Furthermore, students can become more confident when their self-esteem and grade does not depend only on the specific answer that the teacher wants. In addition, during the problem-solving process students can develop better critical and creative thinking skills.

Students can also develop better language skills (both knowledge and communication) through problems that require a high level of interaction with others (Verga & Kotz, 2013). This is important for all learners, but especially for ELLs and others who do not have grade-level language skills. For students who may not understand the language or content or a specific question, the focus on process gives them more opportunities to access information and express their knowledge.

The problem-solving process

The use of PBL requires different processes for students and teachers. The teacher’s process involves careful planning. There are many ways for this to happen, but a general outline that can be adapted includes the following steps:

After students bring up a question, put it in the greater context of a problem to solve (using the format of an essential question; see chapter 4) and decide what the outcome should be–a recommendation, a summary, a process?

Develop objectives that represent both the goal and the specific content, language, and skills toward which students will work.

List background information and possible materials and content that will need to be addressed. Get access to materials and tools and prepare resource lists if necessary.

Write the specific problem. Make sure students know what their role is and what they are expected to do. Then go back and check that the problem and task meet the objectives and characteristics of effective PBL and the relevant standards. Reevaluate materials and tools.

Develop scaffolds that will be needed.

Evaluate and prepare to meet individual students’ needs for language, assistive tools, content review, and thinking skills and strategies

Present the problem to students, assess their understanding, and provide appropriate feedback as they plan and carry out their process.

The student process focuses more on the specific problem-solving task. PBL sources list different terms to describe each step, but the process is more or less the same. Students:

Define and frame the problem: Describe it, recognize what is being asked for, look at it from all sides, and say why they need to solve it.

Plan: Present prior knowledge that affects the problem, decide what further information and concepts are needed, and map what resources will be consulted and why.

Inquire: Gather and analyze the data, build and test hypotheses.

Look back: Review and evaluate the process and content. Ask “What do I understand from this result? What does it tell me?”

These steps are summarized in Figure 6.1.

Problem-solving strategies that teachers can demonstrate, model, and teach directly include trial and error, process of elimination, making a model, using a formula, acting out the problem, using graphics or drawing the problem, discovering patterns, and simplifying the problem (e.g., rewording, changing the setting, dividing it into simpler tasks). Even the popular KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) chart can help students frame questions. A KWL for a project asking whether a superstore should be built in the community might look like the one in Figure 6.2. Find out more about these strategies at http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/discuss-prob.html .

Teaching problem-solving in groups involves the use of planning and other technologies. Using these tools, students post, discuss, and reflect on their joint problem-solving process using visual cues that they create. This helps students focus on both their process and the content. Throughout the teacher and student processes, participants should continue to examine cultural, emotional, intellectual, and other possible barriers to problem-solving.

Teachers and Problem-solving

The teacher’s role in PBL

During the teacher’s process of creating the problem context, the teacher must consider what levels of authenticity, complexity, uncertainty, and self-direction students can access and work within. Gordon (1998) broke loosely structured problems into three general types with increasing levels of these aspects. Still in use today, these are:

Academic challenges. An academic challenge is student work structured as a problem arising directly from an area of study. It is used primarily to promote greater understanding of selected subject matter. The academic challenge is crafted by transforming existing curricular material into a problem format.

Scenario challenges. These challenges cast students in real-life roles and ask them to perform these roles in the context of a reality-based or fictional scenario.

Real-life problems. These are actual problems in need of real solutions by real people or organizations. They involve students directly and deeply in the exploration of an area of study. And the solutions have the potential for actual implementation at the classroom, school, community, regional, national, or global level. (p. 3)

To demonstrate the application of this simple categorization, the learning activities presented later in this chapter follow this outline.

As discussed in other chapters in this book, during student work the teacher’s role can vary from director to shepherd, but when the teacher is a co-learner rather than a taskmaster, learners become experts. An often-used term for the teacher’s role in the literature about problem-solving is “coach.” As a coach, the teacher works to facilitate thinking skills and process, including working out group dynamics, keeping students on task and making sure they are participating, assessing their progress and process, and adjusting levels of challenge as students’ needs change. Teachers can provide hints and resources and work on a gradual release of responsibility to learners.

Challenges for teachers

For many teachers, the roles suggested above are easier said than done. To use a PBL approach, teachers must break out of the content-dissemination mode and help their students to do the same. Even when this happens, in many classrooms students have been trained to think that problem-solving is getting the one right answer, and it takes time, practice, and patience for them to understand otherwise. Some teachers feel that they are obligated to cover too much in the curriculum to spend time on PBL or that using real-world problems does not mesh well with the content, materials, and context of the classroom. However, twenty years ago Gordon (1998) noted, “whether it’s a relatively simple matter of deciding what to eat for breakfast or a more complex one such as figuring out how to reduce pollution in one’s community, in life we make decisions and do things that have concrete results. Very few of us do worksheets” (p. 2). He adds that not every aspect of students’ schoolwork needs to be real, but that connections should be made from the classroom to the real world. Educators around the world are still working toward making school more like life.

In addition, many standardized district and statewide tests do not measure process, so students do not want to spend time on it. However, teachers can overcome this thinking by demonstrating to students the ways in which they need to solve problems every day and how these strategies may transfer to testing situations.

Furthermore, PBL tasks and projects may take longer to develop and assess than traditional instruction. However, teachers can start slowly by helping students practice PBL in controlled environments with structure, then gradually release them to working independently. The guidelines in this chapter address some of these challenges.

GUIDELINES FOR TECHNOLOGY-SUPPORTED PROBLEM-SOLVING

Obviously, PBL is more than simply giving students a problem and asking them to solve it. The following guidelines describe other issues in PBL.

Designing Problem-Solving Opportunities

The guidelines described here can assist students in developing a PBL opportunity.

Guideline #1: Integrate reading and writing. Although an important part of solving problems, discussion alone is not enough for students to develop and practice problem-solving skills. Effective problem-solving and inquiry require students to think clearly and deeply about content, language, and process. Reading and writing tasks can encourage students to take time to think about these issues and to contextualize their thinking practice. They can also provide vehicles for teachers to understand student progress and to provide concrete feedback. Students who have strengths in these areas will be encouraged and those who need help can learn from their stronger partners, just as those who have strengths in speaking can model for and assist their peers during discussion. Even in courses that do not stress reading and writing, integrating these skills into tasks and projects can promote successful learning.

Guideline #2: Avoid plagiarism. The Internet is a great resource for student inquiry and problem-solving. However, when students read and write using Internet resources, they often cut and paste directly from the source. Sometimes this is an innocent mistake; students may be uneducated about the use of resources, perhaps they come from a culture where the concept of ownership is completely different than in the United States, or maybe their language skills are weak and they want to be able to express themselves better. In either case, two strategies can help avoid plagiarism: 1) The teacher can teach directly about plagiarism and copyright issues. Strategies including helping students learn how to cite sources, paraphrase, summarize, and restate; 2) The teacher can be as familiar as possible with the resources that students will use and check for plagiarism when it is suspected. To do so, the teacher can enter a sentence or phrase into any Web browser with quote marks around it and if the entry is exact, the original source will come up in the browser window. Essay checkers such as Turnitin (http://turnitin.com/) are also available online that will check a passage or an entire essay.

Guideline #3: Do not do what students can do. Teaching, and particularly teaching with technology, is often a difficult job, due in part to the time it takes teachers to prepare effective learning experiences. Planning, developing, directing, and assessing do not have to be solely the teacher’s domain, however. Students should take on many of these responsibilities, and at the same time gain in problem-solving, language, content, critical thinking, creativity, and other crucial skills. Teachers do not always need to click the mouse, write on the whiteboard, decide

criteria for a rubric, develop questions, decorate the classroom, or perform many classroom and learning tasks. Students can take ownership and feel responsibility. Although it is often difficult for teachers to give up some of their power, the benefits of having more time and shared responsibility can be transformational. Teachers can train themselves to ask, “Is this something students can do?”

Guideline #4: Make mistakes okay. Problem-solving often involves coming to dead ends, having to revisit data and reformulate ideas, and working with uncertainty. For students used to striving for correct answers and looking to the teacher as a final authority, the messiness of problem-solving can be disconcerting, frustrating, and even scary. Teachers can create environments of acceptance where reasoned, even if wrong, answers are recognized, acknowledged, and given appropriate feedback by the teacher and peers. Teachers already know that students come to the task with a variety of beliefs and information. In working with students’ prior knowledge, they can model how to be supportive of students’ faulty ideas and suggestions. They can also ask positive questions to get the students thinking about what they still need to know and how they can come to know it. They can both encourage and directly teach students to be supportive of mistakes and trials as part of their team-building and leadership skills.

In addition, teachers may need to help students to understand that even a well-reasoned argument or answer can meet with opposition. Students must not feel that they have made a bad decision just because everyone else, particularly the teacher, does not agree. Teachers can model for students that they are part of the learning process and they are impartial as to the outcome when the student’s position has been well defended.

PROBLEM-SOLVING AND INQUIRY TECHNOLOGIES

As with all the goals in this book, the focus of technology in problem-solving is not on the technology itself but on the learning experiences that the technology affords. Different tools exist to support different parts of the process. Some are as simple as handouts that students can print and complete, others as complex as modeling and visualization software. Many software tools that support problem-solving are made for experts in the field and are relatively difficult to learn and use. Examples of these more complicated programs include many types of computer-aided design software, advanced authoring tools, and complex expert systems. In the past there were few software tools for K–12 students that addressed the problem-solving process directly and completely, but more apps are being created all the time that do so. See the Teacher Tools for this text for examples.

Simple inquiry tools that help students perform their investigations during PBL are much more prevalent. The standard word processor, database, concept mapping/graphics and spreadsheet software can all assist students in answering questions and organizing and presenting data, but there are other tools more specifically designed to support inquiry. Software programs that can be used within the PBL framework are mentioned in other chapters in this text. These programs, such as the Tom Snyder Productions/Scholastic programs mentioned in chapter 2 address the overlapping goals of collaboration, production, critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. Interestingly, even video games might be used as problem-solving tools. Many of these games require users to puzzle out directions, to find missing artifacts, or to follow clues that are increasingly difficult to find and understand. One common tool with which students at all levels might be familiar is Minecraft (Mojang; https://minecraft.net/en-us/). The Internet has as many resources as teachers might need to use Minecraft across the disciplines to teach whole units and even gamify the classroom.

The following section presents brief descriptions of tools that can support the PBL process. The examples are divided into stand-alone tools that can be used on one or more desktops and Web-based tools.

Stand-Alone Tools

Example 1: Fizz and Martina’s Math Adventures (Tom Snyder Productions/Scholastic)

Students help Fizz and Martina, animated characters in this software, to solve problems by figuring out which data is relevant, performing appropriate calculations, and presenting their solutions. The five titles in this series are perfect for a one-computer classroom. Each software package combines computer-based video, easy navigation, and handouts and other resources as scaffolds. This software is useful in classrooms with ELLs because of the combination of visual, audio, and text-based reinforcement of input. It is also accessible to students with physical disabilities because it can run on one computer; students do not have to actually perform the mouse clicks to run the software themselves.

This software is much more than math. It includes a lot of language, focuses on cooperation and collaboration in teams, and promotes critical thinking as part of problem-solving. Equally important, it helps students to communicate mathematical ideas orally and in writing. See Figure 6.6 for the “getting started” screen from Fizz and Martina to view some of the choices that teachers and students have in using this package.

Example 2: I Spy Treasure Hunt, I Spy School Days, I Spy Spooky Mansion (Scholastic)

The language in these fun simulations consists of isolated, discrete words and phrases, making these programs useful for word study but not for overall concept learning. School Days, for example, focuses on both objects and words related to school. However, students work on extrapolation, trial and error, process of elimination, and other problem-solving strategies. It is difficult to get students away from the computer once they start working on any of the simulations in this series. Each software package has several separate hunts with a large number of riddles that, when solved, allow the user to put together a map or other clues to find the surprise at the end. Some of the riddles involve simply finding an item on the screen, but others require more thought such as figuring out an alternative representation for the item sought or using a process of elimination to figure out where to find it. All of the riddles are presented in both text and audio and can be repeated as many times as the student requires, making it easier for language learners, less literate students, and students with varied learning preferences to access the information. Younger students can also work with older students or an aide for close support so that students are focused. Free versions of the commercial software and similar types of programs such as escape rooms (e.g., escapes at 365 Escape {http://www.365escape.com/Room-Escape-Games.html] and www.primarygames.com) can be found across the Web.

There are many more software packages like these that can be part of a PBL task. See the Teacher Toolbox for ideas.

Example 3: Science Court (Tom Snyder Productions/Scholastic)

Twelve different titles in this series present humorous court cases that students must help to resolve. Whether the focus is on the water cycle, soil, or gravity, students use animated computer-based video, hands-on science activities, and group work to learn and practice science and the inquiry process. As students work toward solving the case, they examine not only the facts but also their reasoning processes. Like Fizz and Martina and much of TSP’s software, Science Court uses multimedia and can be used in the one-computer classroom (as described in chapter 2), making it accessible to diverse students.

Example 4: Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

The use of GIS to track threatened species, map hazardous waste or wetlands in the community, or propose solutions for other environmental problems supports student “spatial literacy and geographic competence” (Baker, 2005, n.p.), in addition to experimental and inquiry techniques, understanding of scale and resolution, and verification skills. Popular desktop-based GIS that students can access include Geodesy and ArcVoyager; many Web-based versions also exist. A GIS is not necessarily an easy tool to learn or use, but it can lead to real-world involvement and language, concept, and thinking skills development.

Web-Based Tools

Many technology-enhanced lessons and tools on the Web come premade. In other words, they were created for someone else’s students and context. Teachers must adapt these tools to fit their own teaching styles, student needs, goals, resources, and contextual variables. Teachers must learn to modify these resources to make them their own and help them to work effectively in their unique teaching situation. With this in mind, teachers can take advantage of the great ideas in the Web-based tools described below.

Example 1: WebQuest

A WebQuest is a Web-based inquiry activity that is highly structured in a preset format. Most teachers are aware of WebQuests—a Web search finds them mentioned in every state, subject area, and grade level, and they are popular topics at conferences and workshops. Created by Bernie Dodge and Tom March in 1995 (see http://webquest.org/), this activity has proliferated wildly.

Each WebQuest has six parts. The Quest starts with an introduction to excite student interest. The task description then explains to students the purpose of the Quest and what the outcome will be. Next, the process includes clear steps and the scaffolds, including resources, that students will need to accomplish the steps. The evaluation section provides rubrics and assessment guidelines, and the conclusion section provides closure. Finally, the teacher section includes hints and tips for other teachers to use the WebQuest.

Advantages to using WebQuests as inquiry and problem-solving tools include:

Students are focused on a specific topic and content and have a great deal of scaffolding.

Students focus on using information rather than looking for it, because resources are preselected.

Students use collaboration, critical thinking, and other important skills to complete their Quest.

Teachers across the United States have reported significant successes for students participating in Quests. However, because Quests can be created and posted by anyone, many found on the Web do not meet standards for inquiry and do not allow students autonomy to work in authentic settings and to solve problems. Teachers who want to use a WebQuest to meet specific goals should examine carefully both the content and the process of the Quest to make sure that they offer real problems as discussed in this chapter. A matrix of wonderful Quests that have been evaluated as outstanding by experts is available on the site.

Although very popular, WebQuests are also very structured. This is fine for students who have not moved to more open-ended problems, but to support a higher level of student thinking, independence, and concept learning, teachers can have students work in teams on Web Inquiry Projects ( http://webinquiry.org/ ).

Example 2: Virtual Field Trips

Virtual field trips are great for concept learning, especially for students who need extra support from photos, text, animation, video, and audio. Content for field trips includes virtual walks through museums, underwater explorations, house tours, and much more (see online field trips suggested by Steele-Carlin [2014] at http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech071.shtml ). However, the format of virtual field trips ranges from simple postcard-like displays to interactive video simulations, and teachers must review the sites before using them to make sure that they meet needs and goals.

With a virtual reality headset (now available for sale cheaply even at major department stores), teachers and students can go on Google Expeditions ( https://edu.google.com/expeditions/ ), 3D immersive field trips from Nearpod ( http://nearpod.com ), and even create their using resources from Larry Ferlazzo’s “Best Resources for Finding and Creating Virtual Field Trips” at http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2009/08/11/the-best-resources-for-finding-and-creating-virtual-field-trips/.

Example 3: Raw Data Sites

Raw data sites abound on the Web, from the U.S. Census to the National Climatic Data Center, from databases full of language data to the Library of Congress. These sites can be used for content learning and other learning goals. Some amazing sites can be found where students can collect their own data. These include sites like John Walker’s (2003) Your Sky (www.fourmilab.to/yoursky) and Water on the Web (2005, waterontheweb.org). When working with raw data students have to draw their own conclusions based on evidence. This is another important problem-solving skill. Note that teachers must supervise and verify that data being entered for students across the world is accurate or

Example 4: Filamentality

Filamentality (https://keithstanger.com/filamentality.html) presents an open-ended problem with a lot of scaffolding. Students and/or teachers start with a goal and then create a Web site in one of five formats that range in level of inquiry and problem-solving from treasure hunts to WebQuests. The site provides lots of help and hints for those who need it, including “Mentality Tips” to help accomplish goals. It is free and easy to use, making it accessible to any teacher (or student) with an Internet connection.

Example 5: Problem Sites

Many education sites offer opportunities for students to solve problems. Some focus on language (e.g., why do we say “when pigs fly”?) or global history (e.g., what’s the real story behind Tut’s tomb?); see, for example, the resources and questions in The Ultimate STEM Guide for Students at http://www.mastersindatascience.org/blog/the-ultimate-stem-guide-for-kids-239-cool-sites-about-science-technology-engineering-and-math/. These problems range in level from very structured, academic problems to real-world unsolved mysteries.

The NASA SciFiles present problems in a format similar to WebQuests at https://knowitall.org/series/nasa-scifiles. In other parts of the Web site there are video cases, quizzes, and tools for problem-solving.

There is an amazing number of tools, both stand-alone and Web-based, to support problem-solving and inquiry, but no tool can provide all the features that meet the needs of all students. Most important in tool choice is that it meets the language, content, and skills goals of the project and students and that there is a caring and supportive teacher guiding the students in their choice and use of the tool.

Teacher Tools

There are many Web sites addressed specifically to teachers who are concerned that they are not familiar enough with PBL or that they do not have the tools to implement this instructional strategy. For example, from Now On at http://www.fno.org/ toolbox.html provides specific suggestions for how to integrate technology and inquiry. Search “problem-solving” on the amazing Edutopia site ( https://www.edutopia.org/ ) for ideas, guidelines, examples, and more.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES: PROBLEM-SOLVING AND INQUIRY

In addition to using the tools described in the previous section to teach problem-solving and inquiry, teachers can develop their own problems according to the guidelines throughout this chapter. Gordon’s (1998) scheme of problem-solving levels (described previously)—academic, scenario, and real life—is a simple and useful one. Teachers can refer to it to make sure that they are providing appropriate structure and guidance and helping students become independent thinkers and learners. This section uses Gordon’s levels to demonstrate the variety of problem-solving and inquiry activities in which students can participate. Each example is presented with the question/problem to be answered or solved, a suggestion of a process that students might follow, and some of the possible electronic tools that might help students to solve the problem.

Academic problems

Example 1: What Will Harry Do? (Literature)

Problem: At the end of the chapter, Harry Potter is faced with a decision to make. What will he do?

Process: Discuss the choices and consequences. Choose the most likely, based on past experience and an understanding of the story line. Make a short video to present the solution. Test it against Harry’s decision and evaluate both the proposed solution and the real one.

Tools: Video camera and video editing software.

Example 2: Treasure Hunt (History)

Problem: Students need resources to learn about the Civil War.

Process: Teacher provides a set of 10 questions to find specific resources online.

Tools: Web browser.

Example 3: Problem of the Week (Math)

Problem: Students should solve the math problem of the week.

Process: Students simplify the problem, write out their solution, post it to the site for feedback, then revise as necessary.

Tools: Current problems from the Math Forum@Drexel, http://mathforum.org/pow/

Example 1: World’s Best Problem Solver

Problem: You are a member of a committee that is going to give a prestigious international award for the world’s best problem-solver. You must nominate someone and defend your position to the committee, as the other committee members must do.

Process: Consult and list possible nominees. Use the process of elimination to determine possible nominees. Research the nominees using several different resources. Weigh the evidence and make a choice. Prepare a statement and support.

Tools: Biography.com has over 25,000 biographies, and Infoplease (infoplease.com) and the Biographical Dictionary (http://www.s9.com/) provide biographies divided into categories for easy searching.

Example 2: Curator

Problem: Students are a committee of curators deciding what to hang in a new community art center. They have access to any painting in the world but can only hang 15 pieces in their preset space. Their goals are to enrich art appreciation in the community, make a name for their museum, and make money.

Process: Students frame the problem, research and review art from around the world, consider characteristics of the community and other relevant factors, choose their pieces, and lay them out for presentation to the community.

Tools: Art museum Web sites, books, and field trips for research and painting clips; computer-aided design, graphics, or word processing software to lay out the gallery for viewing.

Example 3: A New National Anthem

Problem: Congress has decided that the national anthem is too difficult to remember and sing and wants to adopt a new, easier song before the next Congress convenes. They want input from musicians across the United States. Students play the roles of musicians of all types.

Process: Students define the problem (e.g., is it that “The Star-Spangled Banner” is too difficult or that Congress needs to be convinced that it is not?). They either research and choose new songs or research and defend the current national anthem. They prepare presentations for members of Congress.

Tools: Music sites and software, information sites on the national anthem.

Real-life problems

Example 1: Racism in School

Problem: There have been several incidents in our school recently that seem to have been racially motivated. The principal is asking students to consider how to make our school a safe learning environment for all students.

Process: Determine what is being asked—the principal wants help. Explore the incidents and related issues. Weigh the pros and cons of different solutions. Prepare solutions to present to the principal.

Tools: Web sites and other resources about racism and solutions, graphic organizers to organize the information, word processor or presentation software for results. Find excellent free tools for teachers and students at the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance Web site at www.tolerance.org.

Example 2: Homelessness vs. Education

Problem: The state legislature is asking for public input on the next budget. Because of a projected deficit, political leaders are deciding which social programs, including education and funding for the homeless, should be cut and to what extent. They are interested in hearing about the effects of these programs on participants and on where cuts could most effectively be made.

Process: Decide what the question is (e.g., how to deal with the deficit? How to cut education or funding for the homeless? Which programs are more important? Something else?). Perform a cost-benefit analysis using state data. Collect other data by interviewing and researching. Propose and weigh different solution schemes and propose a suggestion. Use feedback to improve or revise.

Tools: Spreadsheet for calculations, word processor for written solution, various Web sites and databases for costs, electronic discussion list or email for interviews.

Example 3: Cleaning Up

Problem: Visitors and residents in our town have been complaining about the smell from the university’s experimental cattle farms drifting across the highway to restaurants and stores in the shopping center across the street. They claim that it makes both eating and shopping unpleasant and that something must be done.

Process: Conduct onsite interviews and investigation. Determine the source of the odor. Measure times and places where the odor is discernible. Test a variety of solutions. Choose the most effective solution and write a proposal supported by a poster for evidence.

Tools: Online and offline sources of information on cows, farming, odor; database to organize and record data; word processing and presentation software for describing the solution.

These activities can all be adapted and different tools and processes used. As stated previously, the focus must be both on the content to be learned and the skills to be practiced and acquired. More problem-solving activity suggestions and examples can be found at site at http://www.2learn.ca/.

ASSESSING LEARNER PROBLEM-SOLVING AND INQUIRY

Many of the assessments described in other chapters of this text, for example, rubrics, performance assessments, observation, and student self-reflection, can also be employed to assess problem-solving and inquiry. Most experts on problem-solving and inquiry agree that schools need to get away from testing that does not involve showing process or allowing students to problem-solve; rather, teachers should evaluate problem-solving tasks as if they were someone in the real-world context of the problem. For example, if students are studying an environmental issue, teachers can evaluate their work throughout the project from the standpoint of someone in the field, being careful that their own biases do not cloud their judgment on controversial issues. Rubrics, multiple-choice tests, and other assessment tools mentioned in other chapters of this text can account for the multiple outcomes that are possible in content, language, and skills learning. These resources can be used as models for assessing problem-solving skills in a variety of tasks. Find hundreds of problem-solving rubrics by searching the Web for “problem-solving rubrics” or check Pinterest for teacher-created rubrics.

In addition to the techniques mentioned above, many teachers suggest keeping a weekly problem-solving notebook (also known as a math journal or science journal), in which students record problem solutions, strategies they used, similarities with other problems, extensions of the problem, and an investigation of one or more of the extensions. Using this notebook to assess students’ location and progress in problem-solving could be very effective, and it could even be convenient if learners can keep them online as a blog or in a share cloud space.

FROM THE CLASSROOM

Research and Plagiarism

We’ve been working on summaries all year and the idea that copying word for word is plagiarism. When they come to me (sixth grade) they continue to struggle with putting things in their own words so [Microsoft Encarta] Researcher not only provides a visual (a reference in APA format) that this is someone else’s work, but allows me to see the information they used to create their report as Researcher is an electronic filing system. It’s as if students were printing out the information and keeping it in a file that they will use to create their report. But instead of having them print everything as they go to each individual site they can copy and paste until later. When they finish their research they come back to their file, decide what information they want to use, and can print it out all at once. This has made it easier for me because the students turn this in with their report. So, I would say it not only allows students to learn goals of summarizing, interpreting, or synthesizing, it helps me to address them in greater depth and it’s easier on me! (April, middle school teacher)

I evaluated a WebQuest for middle elementary (third–fourth grades), although it seems a little complicated for that age group. The quest divides students into groups and each person in the group is given a role to play (a botanist, museum curator, ethnobotanist, etc.). The task is for students to find out how plants were used for medicinal purposes in the Southwest many years ago. Students then present their findings, in a format that they can give to a national museum. Weird. It was a little complicated and not well done. I liked the topic and thought it was interesting, but a lot of work would need to be done to modify it so that all students could participate. (Jennie, first-grade teacher).

CHAPTER REVIEW

Define problem-solving and inquiry.

The element that distinguishes problem-solving or problem-based learning from other strategies is that the focal point is a problem that students must work toward solving. A proposed solution is typically the outcome of problem-solving. During the inquiry part of the process, students ask questions and then search for answers to those questions.

Understand the interaction between problem-solving and other instructional goals. Although inquiry is also an important instructional strategy and can stand alone, it is also a central component of problem-solving because students must ask questions and investigate the answers to solve the problem. In addition, students apply critical and creative thinking skills to prior knowledge during the problem-solving process, and they communicate, collaborate, and often produce some kind of concrete artifact.

Discuss guidelines and tools for encouraging effective student problem-solving.

It is often difficult for teachers to not do what students can do, but empowering students in this way can lead to a string of benefits. Other guidelines, such as avoiding plagiarism, integrating reading and writing, and making it okay for students to make mistakes, keep the problem-solving process on track. Tools to assist in this process range from word processing to specially designed inquiry tools.

Create and adapt effective technology-enhanced tasks to support problem-solving. Teachers can design their own tasks following guidelines from any number of sources, but they can also find ready-made problems in books, on the Web, and in some software pack-ages. Teachers who do design their own have plenty of resources available to help. A key to task development is connecting classroom learning to the world outside of the classroom.

Assess student technology-supported problem-solving.

In many ways the assessment of problem-solving and inquiry tasks is similar to the assessment of other goals in this text. Matching goals and objectives to assessment and ensuring that students receive formative feedback throughout the process will make success more likely.

Baker, T. (2005). The history and application of GIS in education. KANGIS: K12 GIS Community. Available from http://kangis.org/learning/ed_docs/gisNed1.cfm.

Belland, B., Walker, A., Kim, N., & Lefler, M. (2017). Synthesizing results from empirical research on computer-based scaffolding in STEM education: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 87(2), pp. 309-344.

Chauhan, S. (2017). A meta-analysis of the impact of technology on learning effectiveness of elementary students. Computers & Education, 105, pp. 14-30.

Dooly, M. (2005, March/April). The Internet and language teaching: A sure way to interculturality? ESL Magazine, 44, 8–10.

Gordon, R. (1998, January).Balancing real-world problems with real-world results. Phi Delta Kappan, 79(5), 390–393. [electronic version]

IMSA (2005). How does PBL compare with other instructional approaches? Available: http://www2 .imsa.edu/programs/pbln/tutorials/intro/intro7.php.

Molebash, P., & Dodge, B. (2003). Kickstarting inquiry with WebQuests and web inquiry projects. Social Education, 671(3), 158–162.

Verga, L., & Kotz, S. A. (2013). How relevant is social interaction in second language learning? Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7, 550. http://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00550

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Why Every Educator Needs to Teach Problem-Solving Skills

Strong problem-solving skills will help students be more resilient and will increase their academic and career success .

Want to learn more about how to measure and teach students’ higher-order skills, including problem solving, critical thinking, and written communication?

Problem-solving skills are essential in school, careers, and life.

Problem-solving skills are important for every student to master. They help individuals navigate everyday life and find solutions to complex issues and challenges. These skills are especially valuable in the workplace, where employees are often required to solve problems and make decisions quickly and effectively.

Problem-solving skills are also needed for students’ personal growth and development because they help individuals overcome obstacles and achieve their goals. By developing strong problem-solving skills, students can improve their overall quality of life and become more successful in their personal and professional endeavors.

Problem-Solving Skills Help Students…

   develop resilience.

Problem-solving skills are an integral part of resilience and the ability to persevere through challenges and adversity. To effectively work through and solve a problem, students must be able to think critically and creatively. Critical and creative thinking help students approach a problem objectively, analyze its components, and determine different ways to go about finding a solution.  

This process in turn helps students build self-efficacy . When students are able to analyze and solve a problem, this increases their confidence, and they begin to realize the power they have to advocate for themselves and make meaningful change.

When students gain confidence in their ability to work through problems and attain their goals, they also begin to build a growth mindset . According to leading resilience researcher, Carol Dweck, “in a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.”

    Set and Achieve Goals

Students who possess strong problem-solving skills are better equipped to set and achieve their goals. By learning how to identify problems, think critically, and develop solutions, students can become more self-sufficient and confident in their ability to achieve their goals. Additionally, problem-solving skills are used in virtually all fields, disciplines, and career paths, which makes them important for everyone. Building strong problem-solving skills will help students enhance their academic and career performance and become more competitive as they begin to seek full-time employment after graduation or pursue additional education and training.

  Resolve Conflicts

In addition to increased social and emotional skills like self-efficacy and goal-setting, problem-solving skills teach students how to cooperate with others and work through disagreements and conflicts. Problem-solving promotes “thinking outside the box” and approaching a conflict by searching for different solutions. This is a very different (and more effective!) method than a more stagnant approach that focuses on placing blame or getting stuck on elements of a situation that can’t be changed.

While it’s natural to get frustrated or feel stuck when working through a conflict, students with strong problem-solving skills will be able to work through these obstacles, think more rationally, and address the situation with a more solution-oriented approach. These skills will be valuable for students in school, their careers, and throughout their lives.

    Achieve Success

We are all faced with problems every day. Problems arise in our personal lives, in school and in our jobs, and in our interactions with others. Employers especially are looking for candidates with strong problem-solving skills. In today’s job market, most jobs require the ability to analyze and effectively resolve complex issues. Students with strong problem-solving skills will stand out from other applicants and will have a more desirable skill set.

In a recent opinion piece published by The Hechinger Report , Virgel Hammonds, Chief Learning Officer at KnowledgeWorks, stated “Our world presents increasingly complex challenges. Education must adapt so that it nurtures problem solvers and critical thinkers.” Yet, the “traditional K–12 education system leaves little room for students to engage in real-world problem-solving scenarios.” This is the reason that a growing number of K–12 school districts and higher education institutions are transforming their instructional approach to personalized and competency-based learning, which encourage students to make decisions, problem solve and think critically as they take ownership of and direct their educational journey.

Problem-Solving Skills Can Be Measured and Taught

Research shows that problem-solving skills can be measured and taught. One effective method is through performance-based assessments which require students to demonstrate or apply their knowledge and higher-order skills to create a response or product or do a task.

What Are Performance-Based Assessments?

With the No Child Left Behind Act (2002), the use of standardized testing became the primary way to measure student learning in the U.S. The legislative requirements of this act shifted the emphasis to standardized testing, and this led to a  decline in nontraditional testing methods .

But   many educators, policy makers, and parents have concerns with standardized tests. Some of the top issues include that they don’t provide feedback on how students can perform better, they don’t value creativity, they are not representative of diverse populations, and they can be disadvantageous to lower-income students.

While standardized tests are still the norm, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona is encouraging states and districts to move away from traditional multiple choice and short response tests and instead use performance-based assessment, competency-based assessments, and other more authentic methods of measuring students abilities and skills rather than rote learning. 

Performance-based assessments  measure whether students can apply the skills and knowledge learned from a unit of study. Typically, a performance task challenges students to use their higher-order skills to complete a project or process. Tasks can range from an essay to a complex proposal or design.

Preview a Performance-Based Assessment

Want a closer look at how performance-based assessments work?  Preview CAE’s K–12 and Higher Education assessments and see how CAE’s tools help students develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and written communication skills.

Performance-Based Assessments Help Students Build and Practice Problem-Solving Skills

In addition to effectively measuring students’ higher-order skills, including their problem-solving skills, performance-based assessments can help students practice and build these skills. Through the assessment process, students are given opportunities to practically apply their knowledge in real-world situations. By demonstrating their understanding of a topic, students are required to put what they’ve learned into practice through activities such as presentations, experiments, and simulations. 

This type of problem-solving assessment tool requires students to analyze information and choose how to approach the presented problems. This process enhances their critical thinking skills and creativity, as well as their problem-solving skills. Unlike traditional assessments based on memorization or reciting facts, performance-based assessments focus on the students’ decisions and solutions, and through these tasks students learn to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Performance-based assessments like CAE’s College and Career Readiness Assessment (CRA+) and Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+) provide students with in-depth reports that show them which higher-order skills they are strongest in and which they should continue to develop. This feedback helps students and their teachers plan instruction and supports to deepen their learning and improve their mastery of critical skills.

Explore CAE’s Problem-Solving Assessments

CAE offers performance-based assessments that measure student proficiency in higher-order skills including problem solving, critical thinking, and written communication.

• College and Career Readiness Assessment (CCRA+) for secondary education and
• Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+) for higher education.

Our solution also includes instructional materials, practice models, and professional development.

We can help you create a program to build students’ problem-solving skills that includes:

• Measuring students’ problem-solving skills through a performance-based assessment    
• Using the problem-solving assessment data to inform instruction and tailor interventions
• Teaching students problem-solving skills and providing practice opportunities in real-life scenarios
• Supporting educators with quality professional development

Get started with our problem-solving assessment tools to measure and build students’ problem-solving skills today! These skills will be invaluable to students now and in the future.

Ready to Get Started?

Learn more about cae’s suite of products and let’s get started measuring and teaching students important higher-order skills like problem solving..

Don’t Just Tell Students to Solve Problems. Teach Them How.

The positive impact of an innovative uc san diego problem-solving educational curriculum continues to grow.

• Daniel Kane - [email protected]

Published Date

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Problem solving is a critical skill for technical education and technical careers of all types. But what are best practices for teaching problem solving to high school and college students? 

The University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering is on the forefront of efforts to improve how problem solving is taught. This UC San Diego approach puts hands-on problem-identification and problem-solving techniques front and center. Over 1,500 students across the San Diego region have already benefited over the last three years from this program. In the 2023-2024 academic year, approximately 1,000 upper-level high school students will be taking the problem solving course in four different school districts in the San Diego region. Based on the positive results with college students, as well as high school juniors and seniors in the San Diego region, the project is getting attention from educators across the state of California, and around the nation and the world.

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In Summer 2023, th e 27 community college students who took the unique problem-solving course developed at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering thrived, according to Alex Phan PhD, the Executive Director of Student Success at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Phan oversees the project. 

Over the course of three weeks, these students from Southwestern College and San Diego City College poured their enthusiasm into problem solving through hands-on team engineering challenges. The students brimmed with positive energy as they worked together. 

What was noticeably absent from this laboratory classroom: frustration.

“In school, we often tell students to brainstorm, but they don’t often know where to start. This curriculum gives students direct strategies for brainstorming, for identifying problems, for solving problems,” sai d Jennifer Ogo, a teacher from Kearny High School who taught the problem-solving course in summer 2023 at UC San Diego. Ogo was part of group of educators who took the course themselves last summer.

The curriculum has been created, refined and administered over the last three years through a collaboration between the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and the UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies. The project kicked off in 2020 with a generous gift from a local philanthropist.

Not getting stuck

One of the overarching goals of this project is to teach both problem-identification and problem-solving skills that help students avoid getting stuck during the learning process. Stuck feelings lead to frustration – and when it’s a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) project, that frustration can lead students to feel they don’t belong in a STEM major or a STEM career. Instead, the UC San Diego curriculum is designed to give students the tools that lead to reactions like “this class is hard, but I know I can do this!” –  as Ogo, a celebrated high school biomedical sciences and technology teacher, put it. 

Three years into the curriculum development effort, the light-hearted energy of the students combined with their intense focus points to success. On the last day of the class, Mourad Mjahed PhD, Director of the MESA Program at Southwestern College’s School of Mathematics, Science and Engineering came to UC San Diego to see the final project presentations made by his 22 MESA students.

“Industry is looking for students who have learned from their failures and who have worked outside of their comfort zones,” said Mjahed. The UC San Diego problem-solving curriculum, Mjahed noted, is an opportunity for students to build the skills and the confidence to learn from their failures and to work outside their comfort zone. “And from there, they see pathways to real careers,” he said. 

What does it mean to explicitly teach problem solving? 

This approach to teaching problem solving includes a significant focus on learning to identify the problem that actually needs to be solved, in order to avoid solving the wrong problem. The curriculum is organized so that each day is a complete experience. It begins with the teacher introducing the problem-identification or problem-solving strategy of the day. The teacher then presents case studies of that particular strategy in action. Next, the students get introduced to the day’s challenge project. Working in teams, the students compete to win the challenge while integrating the day’s technique. Finally, the class reconvenes to reflect. They discuss what worked and didn't work with their designs as well as how they could have used the day’s problem-identification or problem-solving technique more effectively. 

The challenges are designed to be engaging – and over three years, they have been refined to be even more engaging. But the student engagement is about much more than being entertained. Many of the students recognize early on that the problem-identification and problem-solving skills they are learning can be applied not just in the classroom, but in other classes and in life in general. 

Gabriel from Southwestern College is one of the students who saw benefits outside the classroom almost immediately. In addition to taking the UC San Diego problem-solving course, Gabriel was concurrently enrolled in an online computer science programming class. He said he immediately started applying the UC San Diego problem-identification and troubleshooting strategies to his coding assignments. 

Gabriel noted that he was given a coding-specific troubleshooting strategy in the computer science course, but the more general problem-identification strategies from the UC San Diego class had been extremely helpful. It’s critical to “find the right problem so you can get the right solution. The strategies here,” he said, “they work everywhere.”

Phan echoed this sentiment. “We believe this curriculum can prepare students for the technical workforce. It can prepare students to be impactful for any career path.”

The goal is to be able to offer the course in community colleges for course credit that transfers to the UC, and to possibly offer a version of the course to incoming students at UC San Diego. 

As the team continues to work towards integrating the curriculum in both standardized high school courses such as physics, and incorporating the content as a part of the general education curriculum at UC San Diego, the project is expected to impact thousands more students across San Diego annually. 

Portrait of the Problem-Solving Curriculum

On a sunny Wednesday in July 2023, an experiential-learning classroom was full of San Diego community college students. They were about half-way through the three-week problem-solving course at UC San Diego, held in the campus’ EnVision Arts and Engineering Maker Studio. On this day, the students were challenged to build a contraption that would propel at least six ping pong balls along a kite string spanning the laboratory. The only propulsive force they could rely on was the air shooting out of a party balloon.

A team of three students from Southwestern College – Valeria, Melissa and Alondra – took an early lead in the classroom competition. They were the first to use a plastic bag instead of disposable cups to hold the ping pong balls. Using a bag, their design got more than half-way to the finish line – better than any other team at the time – but there was more work to do. 

As the trio considered what design changes to make next, they returned to the problem-solving theme of the day: unintended consequences. Earlier in the day, all the students had been challenged to consider unintended consequences and ask questions like: When you design to reduce friction, what happens? Do new problems emerge? Did other things improve that you hadn’t anticipated? 

Other groups soon followed Valeria, Melissa and Alondra’s lead and began iterating on their own plastic-bag solutions to the day’s challenge. New unintended consequences popped up everywhere. Switching from cups to a bag, for example, reduced friction but sometimes increased wind drag. 

Over the course of several iterations, Valeria, Melissa and Alondra made their bag smaller, blew their balloon up bigger, and switched to a different kind of tape to get a better connection with the plastic straw that slid along the kite string, carrying the ping pong balls. 

One of the groups on the other side of the room watched the emergence of the plastic-bag solution with great interest. 

“We tried everything, then we saw a team using a bag,” said Alexander, a student from City College. His team adopted the plastic-bag strategy as well, and iterated on it like everyone else. They also chose to blow up their balloon with a hand pump after the balloon was already attached to the bag filled with ping pong balls – which was unique. 

“I don’t want to be trying to put the balloon in place when it's about to explode,” Alexander explained. 

Asked about whether the structured problem solving approaches were useful, Alexander’s teammate Brianna, who is a Southwestern College student, talked about how the problem-solving tools have helped her get over mental blocks. “Sometimes we make the most ridiculous things work,” she said. “It’s a pretty fun class for sure.” 

Yoshadara, a City College student who is the third member of this team, described some of the problem solving techniques this way: “It’s about letting yourself be a little absurd.”

Alexander jumped back into the conversation. “The value is in the abstraction. As students, we learn to look at the problem solving that worked and then abstract out the problem solving strategy that can then be applied to other challenges. That’s what mathematicians do all the time,” he said, adding that he is already thinking about how he can apply the process of looking at unintended consequences to improve both how he plays chess and how he goes about solving math problems.

Looking ahead, the goal is to empower as many students as possible in the San Diego area and  beyond to learn to problem solve more enjoyably. It’s a concrete way to give students tools that could encourage them to thrive in the growing number of technical careers that require sharp problem-solving skills, whether or not they require a four-year degree. 

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3 Ways to Improve Your Students’ Problem-Solving Skills

Teaching problem solving doesn’t have to be something you dread. Students can and should enjoy feeling challenged and having to persevere through a difficult task. In this article, we lay out three ways we have found success for incorporating problem-solving into our teaching. Learn more through an on-demand webinar .

Problem-Solving Challenges

Have you ever wondered why students often struggle with problem solving in math? Well, problem solving is… challenging! Additionally, if problem solving is difficult, then teaching how to solve problems is even more demanding. There are some common reasons we believe teachers struggle to support students in developing problem-solving skills. They are:

• Problem-solving is often taught in conjunction with mnemonics and memorized procedures that are not predictable and that take focus away from the literacy and mathematics of the task
• Problems chosen are often too routine or familiar for students
• Problem structures do not vary enough between tasks chosen
• Instruction seldom includes reflecting and writing about mathematical practices/processes used to problem solve

Even more, word problems...

• have lots of… you guessed it: words! This can be very daunting for all students, especially for linguistic learners who are still mastering the language.

Improving Student Problem-Solving

Based on our experiences and successes, there are strategic ways incorporating problem- solving into our teaching. Here are three ways that you can support students by incorporating problem solving into your teaching.

Way 1: Use high cognitive demand tasks.

It’s called problem-solving for a reason! There must be an actual problem to solve! After all, a problem isn’t a problem if students already know how to solve it!

Thus, it’s very important to use high cognitive demand tasks in your teaching of problem- solving. These types of tasks engage students in mathematical thinking. They also require students to experience some sort of productive struggle. High cognitive demand tasks may have multiple solutions, or solution paths that are not obvious. They may also have constraints that restrict the number of solutions or strategies.

Teachers’ expectations for student success set the benchmark for students to achieve. When that benchmark is low, student achievement is low. When that benchmark is high, students have an opportunity to rise to that higher level. Providing students with types of tasks that they have not encountered before, and challenging students to make sense of a question, places them at the center of the problem-solving process. Ultimately, then, students are required to think mathematically as opposed to memorizing and regurgitating a set of procedures.

Take a look at the following third grade task:

This task is representative of a high cognitive demand task. Here’s why:

• The task has multiple solutions to each question.
• There are various ways to go about solving the problem.
• The task is not about applying a memorized procedure such as how to find the area or perimeter of a rectangle, despite the provided labeled wooden board with dimensions.
• To answer the questions, students are required to use complex thinking as well as a deep understanding of how the concept of fractions connects to geometry

Teaching problem-solving is much more successful when students are provided tasks that require them to think critically.

Way 2: Offer language support, as needed.

Problems can often be wordy and may muddy the water between whether we are assessing reading skills or mathematics. To ensure the focus is on mathematics, we suggest considering which vocabulary words or grammatical structures might present difficulties. This allows teachers to be better prepared to support challenges that students may encounter.

For example, in the Closet Task problem, the word ‘whole’ when read aloud sounds like ‘hole’. The understanding of the word ‘whole’ is vital to the problem—students must comprehend that the whole board represents the denominator, the entire thing. If students are visualizing a wooden board with holes, they will never have the opportunity to show their understanding of the mathematics content.

Therefore, we suggest previewing important vocabulary before students solve a problem in order to ensure understanding of the task at hand. More specifically, we recommend teachers define appropriate Tier 2 and/or Tier 3 vocabulary words, as needed, for the students they serve.

In addition to pre-teaching important vocabulary, we also suggest calling out challenging grammatical structures. These include phrases with modal phrases like “You have to multiply the length by the width to find the area of a rectangle” or conditional phrases such as, “If you multiply any number by zero, then the product will always be zero.”

Way 3: Provide opportunities for students to engage in structured discourse.

Problem-solving is often thought of as an isolated topic in math classes. Some might even imagine it to look like students working independently. When presented with a problem in the real world, we often seek others’ help. Problem-solving in math class should mirror the real world. Collaboration is a vital skill that can provide students with the support they need in developing their own abilities to share their thinking and in listening to one another.

In order to collaborate successfully, students need to be explicitly taught how to have a math dialogue. This is why we suggest teachers provide students with specific sentence frames that allow for students to structure their discourse so their conversations are meaningful. Structured discourse also supports students in having equal airtime. Additionally, it ensures that students are listening to understand, not listening to respond.

For example, take a look at this protocol that features structured sentence frames to be used after students have solved a task independently:

Norris, K. & Kreisberg, H. (2021). Let's Talk Math. TCM: Huntington Beach, CA.

Students know exactly how to engage in the conversation. Each student is held accountable for listening and understanding by being asked to rephrase what their partner said. Students then analyze their own strategies and discuss their problem-solving process. Students' learning deepens when they articulate their own understanding as they progress through a meaningful task, as well as when they draw conclusions based on their work.

Problem-solving skills may be enhanced when students are able to communicate effectively about their problem solving process and the mathematical strategies they used.

Successful Problem-Solving

While teaching problem-solving is no easy feat, it doesn’t have to be something to dread! Students can be successful problem solvers when they

• problem solve using demanding tasks that cause them to critically think
• collaborate to break down language barriers that often prevent them from accessing the task
• use structured protocols that promote meaningful mathematical discourse
• reflect on their problem solving process both orally and in writing

Imagine this:

This scenario illustrates what a classroom can look like where students are active participants in the problem-solving process. In this classroom, students use structured protocols that facilitate them in understanding the task and identifying important information. Students gain self- confidence as they share their thinking and are active listeners in their discussions. They think mathematically, communicate their understandings orally and in writing, and identify connections among mathematical content and strategies.

With the three strategies included in this article, teachers can overcome the challenges of teaching problem-solving and support students in becoming successful, independent problem-solvers. By using high cognitive demand tasks, offering language support, and providing opportunities for students to engage in structured discourse, teachers can empower students to persevere as problem solvers.

Let's Talk Math: Your Guide to Successful Problem-Solving Instruction

Deepen your understanding of teaching problem solving effectively with the authors of Let’s Talk Math , a researched-based, standards-aligned curricular resource for grades K–5. In this webinar, participants will learn:

• three Steps for Problem-Solving Success which puts students at the center of mathematical learning
• how to support learners in becoming more confident mathematical thinkers
• how Let’s Talk Math enhances both students’ mathematical content knowledge and problem-solving skills, as well as oral and written communication skills

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Author bio:, dr. hilary kreisberg.

Dr. Hilary Kreisberg is the director of the Center for Mathematics Achievement and an assistant professor of mathematics education at Lesley University. Dr. Kreisberg was previously a K–5 math coach and an elementary educator and has a Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership and Curriculum Development, a Master of Arts degree in Teaching and Special Education, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics. An award-winning author, Dr. Kreisberg has been featured in multiple...

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College Minor: Everything You Need to Know

14 fascinating teacher interview questions for principals, tips for success if you have a master’s degree and can’t find a job, 14 ways young teachers can get that professional look, which teacher supplies are worth the splurge, 8 business books every teacher should read, conditional admission: everything you need to know, college majors: everything you need to know, 7 things principals can do to make a teacher observation valuable, 3 easy teacher outfits to tackle parent-teacher conferences, strategies and methods to teach students problem solving and critical thinking skills.

The ability to problem solve and think critically are two of the most important skills that PreK-12 students can learn. Why? Because students need these skills to succeed in their academics and in life in general. It allows them to find a solution to issues and complex situations that are thrown there way, even if this is the first time they are faced with the predicament.

Okay, we know that these are essential skills that are also difficult to master. So how can we teach our students problem solve and think critically? I am glad you asked. In this piece will list and discuss strategies and methods that you can use to teach your students to do just that.

• Direct Analogy Method

A method of problem-solving in which a problem is compared to similar problems in nature or other settings, providing solutions that could potentially be applied.

• Attribute Listing

A technique used to encourage creative thinking in which the parts of a subject, problem, or task are listed, and then ways to change those component parts are examined.

• Attribute Modifying

A technique used to encourage creative thinking in which the parts of a subject, problem, or task are listed, and then options for changing or improving each part are considered.

• Attribute Transferring

A technique used to encourage creative thinking in which the parts of a subject, problem or task listed and then the problem solver uses analogies to other contexts to generate and consider potential solutions.

• Morphological Synthesis

A technique used to encourage creative problem solving which extends on attribute transferring. A matrix is created, listing concrete attributes along the x-axis, and the ideas from a second attribute along with the y-axis, yielding a long list of idea combinations.

SCAMPER stands for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify-Magnify-Minify, Put to other uses, and Reverse or Rearrange. It is an idea checklist for solving design problems.

• Direct Analogy

A problem-solving technique in which an individual is asked to consider the ways problems of this type are solved in nature.

• Personal Analogy

A problem-solving technique in which an individual is challenged to become part of the problem to view it from a new perspective and identify possible solutions.

• Fantasy Analogy

A problem-solving process in which participants are asked to consider outlandish, fantastic or bizarre solutions which may lead to original and ground-breaking ideas.

• Symbolic Analogy

A problem-solving technique in which participants are challenged to generate a two-word phrase related to the design problem being considered and that appears self-contradictory. The process of brainstorming this phrase can stimulate design ideas.

• Implementation Charting

An activity in which problem solvers are asked to identify the next steps to implement their creative ideas. This step follows the idea generation stage and the narrowing of ideas to one or more feasible solutions. The process helps participants to view implementation as a viable next step.

• Thinking Skills

Skills aimed at aiding students to be critical, logical, and evaluative thinkers. They include analysis, comparison, classification, synthesis, generalization, discrimination, inference, planning, predicting, and identifying cause-effect relationships.

Can you think of any additional problems solving techniques that teachers use to improve their student’s problem-solving skills?

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Reimagining Assessment Assessing the Transfer of Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills

Jeff Heyck-Williams (He, His, Him) Director of the Two Rivers Learning Institute in Washington, DC

Educators are rethinking the purposes, forms, and nature of assessment. Beyond testing mastery of traditional content knowledge—an essential task, but not nearly sufficient—educators are designing assessment for learning as an integral part of the learning process.

Two Rivers embarked on a multi-year project to define and assess critical thinking and problem solving in project-based learning expeditions.

Two Rivers Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., is a network of EL Education schools serving over 700 students in preschool through 8th grade. Throughout our twelve-year history, we have continued to champion the importance of embracing a broader definition of student success than what has been handed to us by state and national policy. While we believe that it is essential for all students to be proficient in math, literacy, and the sciences, we believe that that is not enough. Students also need a rich set of social and cognitive skills that span beyond any given discipline.

Furthermore, we believe that we can best teach students these skills through hands-on interdisciplinary project-based learning. As EL Education schools, our projects are defined as expeditions lasting 10 to 12 weeks in which students tackle messy, real world problems that don’t have easy paths to solutions nor do they have one clear right answer. Through intentional design of these projects, teachers address the core content and basic skills defined by literacy and content standards; the social skills of collaboration and communication; the intrapersonal skills defined by character; and the broadly applicable cognitive skills of critical thinking and problem solving.

In the life of our schools, we have seen the powerful way that our students through project-based learning have embraced deeper learning outcomes, and exhibited the habits of effective critical thinking, collaboration, and personal character. However, our evidence that this is working is only found in anecdotes and in the quality of student work. We have been unable to demonstrate neither the degree to which students are developing these skills within projects nor their ability to transfer the skills beyond the context of the current project.

Focusing just on the dimensions of critical thinking and problem solving, our teachers expressed frustration at not knowing in concrete terms what those cognitive skills looked like when students exhibited them. Building on our understanding of the essential role that assessment for learning plays in the learning process and the very practical consideration of how we help teachers and students define and work towards developing these skills, we have embarked on a multi-year project to define and assess critical thinking and problem solving.

Critical thinking and problem solving, as we define it, are the set of non-discipline specific cognitive skills people use to analyze vast amounts of information and creatively solve problems. We have broken those skills down into these five core components:

• Schema Development: The ability to learn vast amounts of information and organize it in ways that are useful for understanding
• Metacognition and Evaluation: The ability to think critically about what one is doing and evaluate many potential choices
• Effective Reasoning: The ability to create claims and support them with logical evidence
• Problem Solving: The ability to identify the key questions in a problem, develop possible paths to a solution, and follow through with a solution
• Creativity and Innovation: The ability to formulate new ideas that are useful within a particular context

Our project is working to create learning progressions in each of these core components with accompanying rubrics. The progressions of learning and rubrics will both help define for students and teachers the skills that all students should be developing as well as function as evaluative tools to provide a picture where each student sits in the development of these skills and what are the next steps for further learning.

However, we believe it is not enough for students to be able to develop these skills within the highly scaffolded context of our expeditions. If they have truly learned the skills, they should have the ability to transfer them. With this in mind, we are working to create short content-neutral performance tasks that will give teachers and students valuable information about each of the five core components listed above. Our hypothesis is that through having students tackle short novel tasks, we will be able to draw clear conclusions about their learning of critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Through the course of this work, we hope that our process will be useful to other educators interested in achieving deeper learning outcomes for their students. We realize that deeper learning will not become a reality in most schools until teachers and leaders have a clear vision for what it looks like on a day-to-day basis and how we can clearly demonstrate student growth in these essential skills. We hope that our work will help to inform how to make deeper learning a concrete reality. It is a work in progress, and we invite you to share your thoughts and follow our progress at our website  https://learn.tworiverspcs.org .

Learn more about Two Rivers' Assessment for Learning Project on their grantee page .

Jeff Heyck-Williams (He, His, Him)

Director of the two rivers learning institute.

Jeff Heyck-Williams is the director of the Two Rivers Learning Institute and a founder of Two Rivers Public Charter School. He has led work around creating school-wide cultures of mathematics, developing assessments of critical thinking and problem-solving, and supporting project-based learning.

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Critical thinking & problem-solving skills students need, sponsored post.

• June 15, 2020

Do you have children of school age, and currently looking for a school to enrol them? As parents, there are a multitude of factors which need to be considered when searching for a school suitable for your child’s educational needs. Selecting the appropriate school for your children is essential as the role of your chosen institution will be to nurture and guide your child in their developing years with the skills they need in adult life.

According to experts, some of the skills children should develop early in life are critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which help them form a structured base for decisions they’ll make in their working and personal life. Critical thinking is in problem-solving, creating strategic plans, and understanding the effects of your actions. This article discusses the various critical thinking and problem-solving skills students need to develop and help you find the right school to cultivate these skills into your children from an early age.

Table of Contents

What Are Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills?

Critical thinking skills students should develop, what are the barriers to critical thinking development in students, problem-solving skills that are essential to students, factors to consider when choosing the right school for your kids.

According to Music First Hand, Founder and Chief Executive Officer Kris Potrafka , people who lack critical thinking skills have reduced promotion opportunities and are more susceptible to manipulation and fraud. And, it’s for this very reason, employers value employees highly with problem-solving skills; these essential traits greatly impact employers during the selection process when hiring candidates.

Critical thinking is the mental process of conceptualising, analysing, evaluating, and applying the information to guide one’s action and belief. Information obtained from observation, reflection, experience, learning, communication, and reasoning become the cornerstone of the decisions we make.

Problem-solving , meanwhile, is the process of defining a problem, finding its cause, developing or finding a solution, and applying the solution to solve it. Excellent problem-solving skills are essential tools for career advancement.

Significant responsibility is placed on schools for developing characteristics in students which prepare them for their working roles, the decisions they make and how they interact with the community. But, what exactly are the benefits of critical thinking?  How does critical thinking serve as a safety net from making poor decisions, and what are the essentials elements which make up the critical thinking process?

Below, we summarised the essential elements which help all individual’s draw conclusions, make decisions and take decisive action at the right time, let’s look at those now;

• Research – The ability to independently conduct research and verify issues or subjects and analyse arguments from different parties. A critical thinker sources information and determines its validity or factualness based on thorough investigation rather than what they are told to believe.
• Identification –Determine the issue and formulate an understanding of the factors which may affect it. Having a clear picture of the problem allows the critical thinker to take the right approach in resolving it or make determinations on a course of action. Students should learn how to conduct a mental inventory of any new question, scenario, or situation.
• Inference – To develop their critical thinking skills, students should learn how to infer or make an educated guess based on the collected information. In analysing the available data, students should take the initiative to collect other related information to make better conclusions about an issue, situation, or scenario.
• Bias identification – The ability to recognise biases is essential in the critical thinking process. As critical thinkers, students should learn the best ways to assess information objectively. They should take into account the biases of the opposing arguments in their evaluation of the presented claims or information.
• Curiosity – Students should be taught not to accept everything presented to them at face value. To develop their interest productively, they should learn how to ask open-ended questions about the things they observe around them.
• Relevancy determination – In critical thinking, students should learn how to determine the relevant information they need to resolve an issue. To do this, they should evaluate their end goal and rank the collected data based on their relevance to the objective or problem.

In teaching critical thinking skills to students, teachers must determine the challenges and barriers that impede their progress. By identifying these barriers, teachers can develop strategies to overcome them. Here are some common educational roadblocks and how to avoid them:

• Intolerance and Arrogance – Certain behavioural traits often prevent critical thinking, compelling some to react carelessly to specific situations and impact on their ability to solve problems. To eliminate intolerance and arrogance, teachers should encourage students to question their way of thinking.
• Personal Biases – Students of all ages should be mindful to avoid biases which can block their ability to reason, inquisitively, and with an open mind. Educators are encouraged to motivate students to develop logical thinking through homework examples to help them question methods and help eliminate biases.
• Schedule Issues – Time constraints and teacher workload often limit learning opportunities to develop critical thinking skills amongst students. Teachers are asked to prioritise the creation of essential lessons of thinking and develop methods to model thinking behaviours which enhance the critical thinking skills of their students.
• Drone Mentality – Young students usually have a drone mentality, in which they have no interest in what is going on around them. Routinary activities in the classroom can lead to this type of attitude and limit the development of critical thinking skills.  To eliminate drone mentality, teachers should place increased focus on developing creative teaching strategies to spark and maintain student interest.
• Groupthink – An understanding of groupthink and the barrier it represents to the critical thinking process, especially when encouraged from a young age. To break this way of thinking, the student should learn how to become independent. Students should be encouraged to question popular beliefs, thoughts, and opinions.

Educators can help eliminate a groupthink perspective in their students by introducing teaching methods which encourage independent thinking. Students can learn how to develop individual thought and critical thinking through constructive arguments and debating activities.

• Social Conditioning – Social conditioning is developed through stereotyping and unwanted assumptions. Students are vulnerable to social conditioning, as their critical thinking skills are not yet fully developed. Teaching them to think outside the box at an early age will allow them to avoid social conditioning. Educators should also teach their learners accuracy, fair-mindedness, and clarity in their thinking pattern.
• Egocentrism – Egocentric thinking is more noticeable in young students as they are curious about themselves and where could they fit in. In egocentric behaviour, individuals have the natural inclination to view all things about themselves. This type of response prevents the development of different perspectives and sympathy for others.

To eliminate egocentric behaviour, teachers should encourage critical thinking activities in the classroom. The educators should assist students in improving their abstract thinking by highlighting the attitudes and opinions of others in social conflict examples. The teachers should develop empathy and understanding of student views and their opinions of others.

In teaching students how to develop their problem-solving skills, teachers should use the theories linked to the psychology of learning. The use of psychology may rouse the curiosity and motivation of students in the learning process.  The Australian Christian College also recently discussed the importance of critical thinking in a recent article, a worthwhile read. Here are some of the problem-solving skills students should develop inside and outside the classroom:

• Analysis – In problem-solving, the first step is to analyse the issue to formulate possible solutions or strategies to resolve it. Teachers should introduce lessons or methods of teaching aimed at nurturing the analytical skills of their students. An example is the cause and effect analysis.
• Communication – Students should learn ways to communicate effectively to solve problems or issues successfully. Excellent communication is particularly essential if they are working with a team or an organisation. With proper communication, they can avoid confusion and misunderstandings. They will also learn how to determine the most appropriate communication channels when they need assistance.
• Active listening – Listening skills are essential components of problem-solving. Through active listening, students can fully understand the problem or issue and respond accordingly. How well they grasp the problem will enable them to ask the right questions and allow them to have a clearer picture of the situation. Active listening will result in the development of better solutions.
• Teamwork – In solving problems in an organisation or team, the camaraderie and rapport among team members are essential. Therefore, students should learn how to work independently and with their peers. Teachers should use team-building practices to allow their students to establish trust and better relationships among each other.
• Research – Like in critical thinking, research skills are essential in problem-solving. Students should be able to analyse a problem’s cause and the factors involved to be able to solve it. In gathering facts and other data, they can conduct independent research, brainstorm with their team members, and consult with their teachers.
• Decision making – As a problem solver, students should learn how to determine the most effective solutions to an issue. In the decision-making process, they should use the data obtained from their research and analysis. In a group setting, they should also learn how to reach a consensus during the decision-making process.
• Creativity – Students should nurture their creativity in finding solutions to issues. Creative problem solving allows students to find fresh ideas and develop disruptive solutions to problems. Creativity leads to the development of new products, technologies, and processes.
• Dependability – Creating solutions on time is essential in any organisation. Therefore, students should strive to become dependable by completing their tasks and homework on time. Students who demonstrate dependability are highly regarded by employers.

Academic achievements aside, one primary consideration for most parents is the development of your child’s character, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Several other factors need also will weigh into your decision making, they are;

• Academic programs – Choosea school with curricula and services based on a holistic approach to education. Its missions and objectives should include introducing programs aimed at developing the integrity, compassion, resiliency, and critical thinking skills of its students.
• Educational cost – To make sure you can shoulder the expenses of your kids, enrol them in schools that fit your budget. Take into consideration the financial assistance the school may offer in your decision. You may also apply your children for scholarships, if available.
• School size – The number of students in a class may affect the learning process of your children. If you can afford it, you may enrol your students in a school with smaller classes to maximise the learning potential of your kids.
• Location – Before looking for a school, determine whether you can afford to send your kids to faraway places to study. It is practical to enrol your kids in schools near you to save on transportation costs, gas, or boarding fees.
• Reputation – A school with a reputation for quality education is preferable for your kids. Consider enrolling them in reputable schools to maximise their learning opportunities.
• Extracurricular or special activities – Out-of-class activities are essential factors in developing the character and personality of your kids. Find schools with proactive extracurricular offerings.
• Retention and graduation rates – Before enrolling your kids in a school, research on its retention and graduation rates as they are indicators of its quality. If possible, avoid schools with high transfer rates and low graduation rates as they indicate poor quality.
• School safety – The safety of your children should be one of the primary considerations in your choice of school. Research on a school’s crime statistics and determine its strategies in place to ensure student safety before enrolling your children.

Critical thinking and problem-solving are essential traits in the development of all children.  As parents, actively encouraging your children to engage in discussion about current world events, problems or issues which they are passionate about, whether they be at home, school or amongst friends.  The skills they learn today greatly aids in them in making the right life choices, while increasing their perceived value within the community and to future employers.

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Unlocking Learning Through Play: The Impact of Removing Play from the Classroom on Student Well-being

Brittney mccarey 20 hours ago, angela castillejo 18 hours ago, keitana johnson 2 hours ago, 1.  unlocking learning through play: the impact of removing play from the classroom on student well-being.

Play is essential in the classroom as it promotes creativity, problem-solving skills, and social development. When play is removed, students may experience increased stress, decreased motivation, and limited opportunities for holistic learning.  For example, in early childhood education, play-based learning activities like building with blocks or dramatic play help children develop important cognitive and social skills. Removing these play opportunities can lead to decreased engagement, limited creativity, and heightened anxiety among students.

- For infants and toddlers, sensory play with soft toys or textured materials.

- For preschool and elementary students, structured play centers like building blocks or role-playing areas. - For middle and high school students, incorporating game-based learning, simulations, or project-based activities that involve creativity and problem-solving.

1. How do you think play contributes to students' overall well-being and academic success? 2. Can you share a personal experience where play positively impacted your learning or that of someone you know? 3. In what ways can educators incorporate play into the classroom to enhance learning outcomes and student well-being?

2.  RE: Unlocking Learning Through Play: The Impact of Removing Play from the Classroom on Student Well-being

1.play contributes to the child's overall wellbeing and academic success because it's a way where children get to practice and learn skills like problem solving, social, fine and gross motor skills all on their own or teacher guided activities through play. 

2. A child at my center was playing with a rope. Another child approached him wanting to also play with the rope. The children started to fight over the rope crying saying they also wanted to play. Me as the teacher i stood back instead of just jumping into the conversation to see if the children could figure out what to do. The child with the rope then told the child he was going to jump 2 more times then he could have a turn. I think this really positively impacted their learning because they learned to problem solve and figure out what to do on their own to both have a turn playing with the rope. 

3.A teacher can incorporate play into the classroom to enhance learning outcomes like having blocks for the children in the center to enhance their eye to hand coordination. The teacher can encourage this game by saying "Let's see who can build the tallest tower" The teacher and children can then all practive using their motor skills to stack blocks in top of each other to better their eye to hand coordination all trough play. 

3.  RE: Unlocking Learning Through Play: The Impact of Removing Play from the Classroom on Student Well-being

I agree with this post and how much of an impact play has on children while trying to learn and explore the world around them. If we provide them new opportunities, we are setting them up to experience the real world, and some of the situations and things they will see in the future.

• Play contributes to a child's well-being by allowing them to simply experience things that they never have before and learn how real-world items and situations work.
• Throughout my years in this early childhood field, play has positively impacted many children because they were able to be introduced to new things and learn how certain things work.
• Educators can incorporate play into the classroom by enhancing the learning centers. When we create inviting and exciting learning environments we are encouraging children to come and learn. If we don't provide these new experiences and fun learning opportunities, we are not giving our children a chance to learn or explore new things.

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Coping skills and perceived stress as pathways to well-being in adolescents experiencing cyber-victimization

• Open access
• Published: 01 April 2024

Cite this article

You have full access to this open access article

• Adem Peker   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3594-9166 1 ,
• Serkan Cengiz   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9070-6338 2 &
• Yüksel Eroğlu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0028-0327 3  

Adolescents experiencing high levels of cyber-victimization may suffer from reduced well-being. Therefore, it is necessary to reveal factors that can increase the well-being of adolescents who experience cyber-victimization. This study examined the mediating effects of perceived stress and coping skills in the relationship between cyber-victimization and well-being. Participants consisted of 543 high school students (45.7% boys, 54.3% girls; M age  = 15.59). Results indicate that cyber-victimization was related to lower well-being through perceived stress, problem solving, and cognitive avoidance. In addition, behavioral avoidance and help-seeking did not play a mediating role in the impact of cyber-victimization on well-being. Lastly, indirect effects tests supported a pathway from cyber-victimization to well-being through perceived stress, problem-solving, and cognitive avoidance. These results improve our understanding of the underlying mechanism between cyber-victimization and well-being by considering the roles of perceived stress and coping skills.

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Introduction

Adolescence is considered an important stage of human development (Steinberg, 2005 ). Protecting and increasing the well-being of young people during this period can also help reduce mental health problems. Focusing on the well-being of adolescents, the EPOCH model (Kline, 2015 ) characterized well-being as a multidimensional structure that includes positive indicators of psychological adaptation, such as positive emotions, participation, relationships, meaning, and achievement. High levels of well-being are closely related to realizing potential, coping with life stress, and making life meaningful (Buerger et al., 2023 ; Maurer et al., 2021 ). A previous study found that well-being promotion interventions during adolescence supported better performance, resilience, and reduced crime (Laski, 2015 ). Rodriguez-Fernandez et al. ( 2018 ) reported that the positive effects of high levels of well-being had a direct impact on school engagement and learning achievement. On the other hand, low well-being is associated with negative outcomes such as higher rates of unhealthy and high-risk behaviors, lower quality of life, rumination, and maladaptive avoidance (Heizomi et al., 2015 ; Van der Aa et al., 2009 ; Verzeletti et al., 2016 ). Indeed, Ritchie et al. ( 2011 ) identified high levels of stress in individuals with low well-being. Another study showed that a decrease in well-being increased screen time, which led to smartphone addiction (Twenge et al., 2018 ). These results suggest that more studies are needed on promoters and risk factors to increase well-being among adolescents.

However, adolescents are likely to become cyber-victims because they lack sufficient self-control and spend a significant amount of time online (Tian et al., 2018 ). In cyber-victimization, attackers can reach a wide audience in a short time thanks to the easy accessibility of the internet (Kowalski et al., 2014 ). For this reason, victims may have difficulty escaping from the victimization they experience. Besides, factors such as repetition of actions in the cyber environment, the anonymity of the cyber attacker, and large audience harm the well-being of cyber-victims (Audrin & Blaya, 2020 ). Previous research has shown that cyber-victimization has negative effects on adolescents' well-being (Kaakinen et al., 2018 ; Longobardi et al., 2020 ) and that cyber-victimization is associated with various psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, and low life satisfaction, which can harm well-being in adolescents (Chamizo-Nieto & Rey, 2023 ; Estévez et al., 2020 ). For example, Li et al. ( 2018 ) found that the level of depression was higher in adolescents who experienced cyber-victimization. In another study on the relationships between cyber-victimization and emotional problems, cyber-victims reported lower self-esteem and higher anxiety levels compared to their peers (Giumetti & Kowalski, 2015 ).

The negative effects of cyber-victimization on academic achievement, school participation, and academic satisfaction have also been highlighted. (Lee et al., 2023 ; Yang et al., 2020 ). Bottino et al. ( 2015 ) reported in their systematic study that cyber-victims experienced more physical, emotional, and social problems at school. Although previous results have confirmed the negative effects of cyber-victimization on well-being, there are limited studies on determining the mediating mechanisms in the relationship between cyber-victimization and well-being by taking into account the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping (TMSC) model. Therefore, this study examined perceived stress and coping skills as potential mediators in the relationship between cyber-victimization and well-being.

The role of perceived stress and coping skills

This study recognizes the TMSC as a valuable theoretical framework for explaining the effects of cyber-victimization in adolescents. TSMC is an important model that explains individuals' coping mechanisms in the face of stressful events (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984 ). This model proposes that two cognitive appraisal processes mediate the effects of stressors on outcomes. The initial cognitive assessment reveals the importance of whether the event threatens or harms the individual's well-being (Schunk et al., 2022 ). As a negative stimulus during the primary evaluation phase, cyber-victimization can be evaluated as a threatening event in adolescents (Monks et al., 2012 ). Cyber-victims are often unaware of who is cyber-bullying them, and the feeling of exclusion in cyber environments can increase stress. The threat of personal photos, video clips, and secrets being shared online can make victims feel stressed (Staude-Müller et al., 2012 ). Due to the anonymity feature of cyber-victimization, victims' inability to predict the bully may increase their stress and negatively affect their mental health. (Albdour et al., 2017 ). Specifically, individuals exposed to cyber-bullying have been found to report higher stress symptoms (Luo et al., 2023 ; Quintana-Orts et al., 2021 ). Recent studies have shown that the experience of cyber-victimization shapes negative beliefs and leads to negative stress responses (Garaigordobil & Machimbarrena, 2019 ; Liu et al., 2020 ). Kowalski et al. ( 2014 ) determined in their meta-analysis that stress was the most associated variable with cyber-victimization. Larzabal-Fernández et al. ( 2019 ) found in their cross-sectional study that cyber-victimization in adolescents was associated with negative emotions such as stress. Cyber-victims may respond specifically through different ways of coping to alleviate the stress they perceive. Therefore, the stress created by the perceived stress due to cyber-victimization and the emotions caused by this stress can be considered an important factor affecting coping skills.

TSMC's second evaluation process begins with individuals evaluating resources and possible options to cope with stressors (Folkman, 2008 ). However, little is known about cyber-victims' coping skills in the face of stress (Raskauskas & Huynh, 2015 ). For this reason, it is important to understand coping mechanisms that can be effective in preventing the negative effects of stress on well-being in the cyber-victimization. Lazarus and Folkman ( 1984 ) define coping as the internal mechanisms a person uses in stressful situations. Problem-solving coping can be characterized as coping with stress by dealing with the problem that caused the stressful situation (Varela et al., 2022 ). Breaking the problem into smaller parts, confrontation, prevention, and collaboration are other common problem-solving coping skills (Weber et al., 2023 ). People with these skills can be expected to have a high level of well-being after stress. Research has shown that the use of problem-solving coping skills reduces stress and increases well-being in cyber-victims (Hampel et al., 2009 ; Vollink et al., 2013 ) .

Again, cyber-victims may try to protect themselves by exhibiting cognitive avoidance of attacks in the cyber environment. Cyber-victims may focus on other events to avoid distressing thoughts and memories (Machackova et al., 2013 ). However, cognitive avoidance experiences may increase the likelihood of future cyber-victimization. Underestimating the experience of cyber-victimization may lead victims in similar experiences to develop maladaptive cognitions and pose a risk to their well-being. Behavioral avoidance, another avoidance skill, involves cyber-victims, behaviors that imply surrendering to fate and not being able to defend themselves effectively (Li et al., 2023 ). An individual exhibiting behavioral avoidance may not show resistance when exposed to bullying. Therefore, victimized individuals can be expected to exhibit various bullying behaviors. Randa and Wilcox ( 2010 ) determined high levels of fear and anxiety in adolescents who exhibited avoidant behaviors toward leaving the cyber environment. In this regard, the avoidance behaviors of adolescents who are victims of cyber-bullying may be closely related to symptoms that may negatively affect their well-being.

Finally, help-seeking has been cited as another common coping skill among cyber-victims (Pereira et al., 2016 ; Priebe et al., 2013 ). Help-seeking refers to the behavior of actively seeking support from other people (Rickwood et al., 2005 ). In terms of TMSC, victims who perceive the bullying experience as a more serious stressor are more likely to tell someone about the incident and help-seeking. When adolescents help-seeking, they tend to prefer informal (e.g., friends) support over formal (e.g., teachers, police) support (Mascheroni & Cuman, 2014 ). However, although it is known that the demand for help-seeking is generally high in cyber-victimization, adolescents may show low interest in the help-seeking resources offered to them (Spears et al., 2015 ). A previous study found that victims avoid reporting cyber-bullying incidents because they feel they should be able to deal with the problem on their own (Murray-Harvey et al., 2012 ). Contrary to this result, in another study, adolescents reported that seeking help was a successful skill in coping with the stress of bullying victimization (Bjereld, 2018 ).

Present study

Cyber-victimization is negatively associated with adolescent well-being (Carvalho et al., 2021 ). However, the factors that will reveal the relationships between cyber-victimization and well-being remain unclear. Moreover, to our knowledge, there are only a few studies that have used the TMSC to examine perceived stress and coping skills, which are possible mediators of the effects of cyber-victimization on well-being. According to TMSC theory, cyber-victims may consider their experiences as a serious source of stress. After this evaluation, the cyber-victim tries to find ways to cope to reduce the stress level. The study predicted that coping skills such as help-seeking, cognitive avoidance, behavioral avoidance, problem-solving, and perceived stress, may mediate the relationship between cyber-victimization and well-being.

However, Turkey's social and cultural characteristics were taken into consideration during the design process of this research. Turkey still has strong familial and cultural traditions that aim for high levels of discipline both at home and at school. There is a gradual increase in the internet use of adolescents in Turkey, a developing country, due to technological developments. According to the Household Information Technologies Survey conducted by TÜİK, it is seen that adolescents are among the groups that use the internet the most in 2021 (TÜİK, 2021 ). This shows that Turkish adolescents have access to technological tools that will enable them to engage in cyber-bullying. Adolescents' intense interest in technology and insufficient psychological maturity levels make them a potential risk group for the negative consequences of the internet. In this context, this study aimed to examine the mediating effect of perceived stress, help-seeking, cognitive avoidance, behavioral avoidance, and problem-solving skills on the relationship between cyber-victimization and well-being, by utilizing TMSC theory. The research hypotheses were created as follows:

H1: Perceived stress mediates the relationship between cyber-victimization and well-being.

H2: Help-seeking coping skills mediate the relationship between cyber-victimization and well-being.

H3: Problem-solving coping skills mediate the relationship between cyber-victimization and well-being.

H4: Cognitive avoidance coping skills mediate the relationship between victimization and well-being.

H5: Behavioral avoidance coping skills mediate the relationship between cyber-victimization and well-being.

H6: Problem-solving, cognitive avoidance, behavioral avoidance, and help-seeking coping skills mediate the relationship between cyber-victimization and stress and well-being.

Materials and methods

Participants.

Some inclusion criteria were established for this study; (i) obtaining a parental consent form to participate in the study, (ii) being a high school student, (iii) using at least one of the internet-based online applications (Instagram, X, Tiktok, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Tinder, Facebook, etc.), (iv) Studying in one of the schools where cyber-bullying occurs the most. In this regard, the researchers first applied the purposeful sampling method to determine which schools would participate in the study. Purposeful sampling is used in cases where the study population is not fully determined, and units are selected purposefully and as desired (Strauss & Corbin, 2014 ). Therefore, we sent a letter to the psychological counseling and guidance services of 51 public high schools to identify students who are exposed to cyber-bullying in schools. This letter includes questions about the purpose of the study, cyber-bullying behaviors seen at school, the application status of students exposed to cyber-bullying, and the impact of cyber-bullying. This letter received positive feedback from 11 schools. Afterward, the researchers selected 6 schools among these schools using the Random method to apply the scales. G*Power 3.1 program was used to determine sample size and power. The minimum sample number of 555 was reached for models with effect size (F 2 ) = 0.028, alpha level of 0.05, and power level of 0.95. This number is considered sufficient for the sample size in the current study (Faul et al., 2007 ). Data from 12 students who did not meet the normality criteria were not included in the study. As a result, the analyses were conducted with the data set of 543 students. Of the participants, 45.7% were boys ( n  = 248) and 54.3% were girls ( n  = 295). Additionally, their ages ranged from 14 to 18 ( M  = 15.58, SD  = 1.25).

The EPOCH measure of adolescent well-being

EPOCH (Kern et al., 2016 ) consists of 20 items and 5 factors of engagement, perseverance, optimism, connectedness, and happiness (e.g., “I'm optimistic about my future”, “I’m a cheerful person”). The adolescents were asked to rate the degree, to which they agreed with each item on a seven-point scale, ranging from 1 ( never ) to 5 ( always ). The scale is also used by taking the total score. Scores were averaged across all items, with higher values indicating higher levels of well-being. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed for the validity analysis of the scale. Fit indices showed that the model was validated (x 2  = 2.38, RMSEA = 0.074, SRMR = 0.05, NFI = 0.96, CFI = 0.98). We used the Turkish version with appropriate fit indices of estimated reliability (Demirci & Eksi, 2015 ). The Cronbach’s α coefficient in the present study was 0.95.

Perceived stress scale

This scale was developed by Cohen et al. ( 1983 ). The scale has a total of 14 items and a unidimensional structure. An example of the questionnaire items is, “In the past month, how often did you feel irritable and stressed?”. The items were rated using a 5-point Likert-type scale (0 =  never , 4 =  very often ), where a higher score indicated more perceived stress. Scores were averaged across all items, with higher values indicating higher levels of well-being. The Turkish version, which possessed good psychometric properties, was used in this study (Eskin et al., 2013 ). Exploratory factor analysis was performed for the validity analysis of the scale. Factor total values were between 0.44 and 0.76. In this study, overall Cronbach’s α of the scale was 0.84.

Coping scale for children and youth (CSCY)

CSCY (Brodzinsky et al., 1992 ) consists of 29 items and 4 factors all for help-seeking, problem-solving, cognitive avoidance, and behavioral avoidance. An example item is “When I encounter a problem, I try not to think about the problem”. For each of the 29 items, students indicated the degree to which they agreed with the statement on a 4-point scale, ranging from 1 ( never ) to 4 ( always ). In this study, adolescents' coping styles were determined using the scale adapted by Yıldız ( 2017 ). Confirmatory factor analysis was performed for the validity analysis of the scale. Fit indices showed that the model was validated (x 2  = 2.06, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.06, GFI = 0.90, CFI = 0.93). The Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient of the subscales of the scale varies between 0.68 and 0.82. As the scores obtained from the sub-dimensions increase, the coping skills related to that sub-dimension increase.

Cyber-victim and bullying scale

This scale was developed to evaluate the experiences of cyber-bullying and cyber-victimization in Turkish adolescents (Cetin et al., 2011 ). The scale consists of 22 items to measure cyber-bullying and cyber-victimization. An example of an item is “Mocking on the Internet”.The cyber-victimization scale was used considering the general purpose and hypotheses of the research. Cyber-victimization dimension consists of 3 different subscales: Cyberlinguistic bullying/victimization, Hiding one's identity, and Cyber forgery. Participants evaluate their cyber-victimization as "It's Happened to Me" and respond using a 5-point Likert (1 =  never , 5 =  always ) type rating. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed for the validity analysis of the scale. Fit indices showed that the model was validated (x 2  = 2.4, RMSEA = 0.058, GFI = 0.90, CFI = 0.96). The Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient of the sub-dimensions of the scale varies between 0.68 and 0.86. In the present study, Cronbach’s α of this scale was 0.89. Higher scores suggest a high level of exposure to cyber-bullying.

The current study was approved by the Atatürk University Ethics Committee (E-56785782–050.02.04–2200405800, 13/27). The research complied with the ethical values required for research with humans and the fundamental principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was obtained from school administrators, teachers, adolescents' families, and adolescents before data collection. Participants then learned about the study through classroom presentations conducted by the researchers. During brief presentations, adolescents were told about the purposes of the study, the importance of answering all questions, that their confidentiality was assured, and that participation was voluntary. The order in which the surveys were given to participants with the necessary permissions was the same during the application. While administering the surveys, researchers were present in the classroom to eliminate doubts, avoid any ambiguity regarding the understanding of the items in the survey, and ensure an impartial process. Participants answered the surveys independently in their classrooms within 25 min. Finally, the researchers placed the surveys in a sealed envelope to prevent data loss following administration and to further reassure students of confidentiality.

Data analyses

The researchers examined the existence of extreme values, normality distribution, linear relationship between variables, homoscedasticity, and normality of regression errors, which are the assumptions of regression analysis. The Mahalanobis distance approach was used to calculate outliers (Leys et al., 2018 ). With this analysis method, the scores of 12 people were determined as extreme values, and the scores of these people were removed from the data set. The skewness and kurtosis values were checked for the assumption of normality. These values vary between ± 2 showing that the data meets the assumption of normality (George, 2010 ).

In addition, to meet the assumptions of the serial and parallel model (model 81), the study first calculated the interrelationships of cyber-victimization, perceived stress, coping skills, and well-being (Pearson correlation analysis). The predictive level of variables on well-being was revealed by regression analysis and the indirect effect of cyber-victimization on well-being through perceived stress and coping skills was determined.

In the last stage, the bootstrap confidence interval was used to determine the significance of indirect effects (Hayes, 2018 ). The proposed mediation model for the current study was conducted using the PROCESS macro (Model-81). In testing the mediation model, indirect effects were explained with a 95% confidence interval (Preacher & Hayes, 2008 ). Additionally, to test the significance of indirect effects, Bootstraps were set to 5,000. Biserial correlation analysis was performed to determine the relationship of age and gender with other variables. We used the SPSS-22 version for all analyses.

Preliminary analysis

Correlation analysis reveals that cyber-victimization has positive relationships with perceived stress, cognitive and behavioral avoidance, and gender. Additionally, while cyber-victimization is negatively and significantly related to problem-solving and well-being, it is not significantly related to help-seeking. Perceived stress is negatively and significantly associated with problem solving, cognitive avoidance, help-seeking, well-being, and gender. Perceived stress is positively and significantly related to behavioral avoidance. Problem-solving, cognitive avoidance, and help-seeking are positively and significantly related to well-being. Although there is a significant relationship between behavioral avoidance and gender; there is no significant relationship between well-being. Problem-solving, cognitive avoidance, and help-seeking have no significant relationship with gender. Descriptive statistics and correlation results are included in Table  1 .

Mediation analyses

In the parallel and serial mediation model, we examined the direct and indirect relationships between the measured variables of the study (Tables  2 and 3 , and Fig.  1 ). Findings showed that cyber-victimization reduced perceived stress (β = 0.21, p  < 0.05, t = 6.17), cognitive (β = 0.12, p  < 0.05, t = 5.31), and behavioral avoidance (β = 0.03, p  < 0.05, t = 3.15) shows that it predicts at a positive and significant level. Similarly, the findings reveal that cyber-victimization negatively and significantly predicts problem solving (β =  − 0.04, p  < 0.05, t =  − 2.76) and well-being (β =  − 0.14, p  < 0.05, t =  − 2.67). However, cyber-victimization significantly predicts help-seeking (β = 0.01, p  > 0.05, t =  − 0.16). The results in Table  2 show that perceived stress affects problem-solving (β =  − 0.09, p  < 0.05, t =  − 4.76), cognitive avoidance (β =  − 0.10, p  < 0.05, t =  − 3.68), and help-seeking (β =  − 0.05, p  < 0.05, t =  − 4.60) and negative well-being (β =  − 0.31, p  < 0.05, t =  − 4.76), while it does not significantly predict behavioral avoidance (β = 0.003, p  > 0.05, t = 0.27).

The mediation depicting the assocations between study variables

Problem solving (β = 0.95, p  < 0.05, t = 7.15) and cognitive avoidance (β = 0.43, p  < 0.05, t = 3.67) significantly predicted well-being, while help-seeking (β = 0.41, p  > 0.05, t = 1.60) and behavioral avoidance (β =  − 0.54, p  > 0.05, t =  − 1.54) do not significantly predict well-being. Gender (β = 0.96, p  > 0.05, t = 0.91) and age (β =  − 0.38, p  > 0.05, t =  − 0.77) do not significantly predict well-being. Moreover, all variables in the model explain 24.31% of the variance in well-being.

Indirect impact analysis results reveal that there is a significant decrease in the direct effect of cyber-victimization on well-being when perceived stress, problem solving and cognitive avoidance are added to the model (β =  − 0.02, 95% CI =  − 0.0348, − 0.0079; β =  − 0.009, 95% CI =  − 0.0189, − 0.0025). Perceived stress, help-seeking, and behavioral avoidance do not show a significant reduction in the direct effect of cyber-victimization on well-being (β =  − 0.004, 95% CI =  − 0.0116, 0.0007; β =  − 0.003, 95% CI =  − 0.0033, 0.0026). Total indirect effect values show that perceived stress, problem-solving, help-seeking, and cognitive and behavioral avoidance mediate the relationship between cyber-victimization and well-being (β =  − 0.1057, 95% CI =  − 0.1755, − 0.0445).

Although the findings provide significant indirect effects related to the serial mediation model, there may be other important serial mediation models in the study. For the alternative model, we tested the model in which coping skills preceded perceived stress (Model 80). Model-80 results show that cyber-victimization is associated with problem-solving (β =  − 0.007, 95% CI =  − 0.0142 0.0024), cognitive avoidance (β = 0.01, 95% CI =  − 0.0041, 0.0236), help-seeking (β =  − 0.002, 95% CI =  − 0.0069, 0.0013) and behavioral avoidance (β =  − 0.008, 95% CI =  − 0.0172, 0.0019), all indirect effects of the serial mediation model between perceived stress and well-being showed that the effects were not significant.

This study presented a model that integrated perceived stress and coping skills (problem-solving, help-seeking, cognitive and behavioral avoidance) in the relationship between adolescents' cyber-victimization and their well-being. While cyber-victimization is significantly and directly related to perceived stress, well-being, problem-solving, and behavioral avoidance coping skills; it is not associated with help-seeking skills. We also identified indirect pathways from cyber-victimization to well-being through perceived stress, problem-solving, help-seeking cognitive, and behavioral avoidance (Fig.  1 ). Our model explained 24% of well-being and showed that both perceived stress and problem-solving and cognitive avoidance were important in the relationship between cyber-victimization and well-being. The results revealed that perceived stress, help-seeking, and behavioral avoidance were not significant in the relationship between cyber victimization and well-being.

Evaluation of sociodemographic variables

This research has shown that cyber-victimization differs in terms of gender and that boys experience more cyber-victimization than girls. One reason for this difference may be the difference in boys' and girls' perceptions of cyber-bullying behaviors. Unlike boys, girls may perceive behavior aimed at damaging social relationships as cyber-bullying, rather than threatening and humiliating people on the internet (Lozano-Blasco et al., 2023 ). Another reason for this difference may be related to how girls are raised in Turkey. Since girls in Turkey are raised under close supervision and taught to be more conscious, they may become more careful about cyber-bullying (Erbiçer et al., 2023 ).

Research results revealed that cyber victimization varies significantly according to age. This finding is compatible with some research findings in the literature (Gedik et al., 2021 ; Katz et al., 2019 ). This result differs from some research results in the literature (Chen et al., 2018 ; Choi et al., 2019 ; Shapka et al., 2018 ). The reason why cyber-victimization varies according to age may be that individuals in all age groups have easier access to information and communication technologies.

The first stage of the model showed that perceived stress had a significant mediating relationship between cyber-victimization and well-being. The findings provide evidence suggesting that perceived stress is a factor that negatively affects adolescents' well-being and increases the negative impact of cyber-victimization on well-being. Considering the TMSC theory, the stress perceived by adolescents experiencing cyber victimization can be included in the primary evaluation process. At this developmental period, young people may have difficulty assessing the situations they experience in terms of risk (Na et al., 2015 ; Raskauskas & Huynh, 2015 ). If the individual perceives the event they are experiencing as a harmful behavior, their stress level increases. This can negatively affect your well-being (Nielsen et al., 2020 ). Recent studies have shown that cyber-victims experience significantly increased stress levels (Gonzalez-Cabrera et al., 2017 ; Williams et al., 2017 ). For example, Garaigordobil and Machimbarrena ( 2019 ) found that the stress levels of children who experienced cyber-victimization increased significantly. Wright ( 2015 ) reported that cyber-victims experience long-term stress. Moreover, recent studies show that perceived stress negatively affects well-being (Calderon et al., 2021 ; Rowold, 2011 ). In their longitudinal study, Denovan and Macaskill ( 2017 ) revealed that stress negatively affects well-being. As a result, cyber-victimization can increase the stress level of adolescents and negatively affect their well-being.

The second stage of the model revealed that the mediating relationship between problem solving and cognitive avoidance coping skills in the relationship between cyber victimization and well-being was significant. However, the results showed that there was no significant mediating effect of help-seeking and behavioral avoidance styles. TSMC theory states that adolescents who experience victimization resort to their internal resources to reduce the negative situation they experience during the secondary evaluation phase. Uses coping skills to reduce both the stress experienced and the negative effects of cyber- victimization. Using coping skills can increase well-being (Eroglu et al., 2022 ; Nielsen et al., 2020 ; Peker & Yalcın, 2023 ). This finding is consistent with research showing that adolescents who experience cyber-victimization tend to use problem-solving and cognitive coping skills (Alipan et al., 2021 ; Sagui-Henson, 2017 ).

In the final stage, we tested four serial mediation models to estimate the relationships between cyber-victimization and well-being. Two of the serial mediation models show that adolescents' use of problem-solving and cognitive avoidance skills who experience cyber-victimization mediate the relationship between cyber-victimization and perceived stress and well-being. The other two serial mediation models also reveal that help-seeking and behavioral avoidance coping skills used by adolescents who experience cyber-victimization do not mediate the relationship between cyber-victimization and perceived stress and well-being.

Problem-solving and cognitive avoidance skills, these methods used in combating cyber-bullying, can be shown as examples of the secondary evaluation process in TMSC theory (Na et al., 2015 ; Raskauskas & Huynh, 2015 ). In parallel with the TSMC theory, adolescents who experience cyber victimization may perceive the incident as a harmful behavior at first evaluation, and this may cause stress. Cyber-victims try to find ways to cope with the stress they experience during the secondary evaluation process. Cyber-victims' use of problem-solving and cognitive avoidance coping skills to cope with the stress they experience may contribute positively to their well-being. In this context, cyber-victims' use of their internal resources to cope with the stress they experience may lead to an increase in their well-being. Previous research reveals that cyber-victims use problem-solving coping skills when faced with bullying (Machackova et al., 2013 ; Stanisławski, 2019 ). For example, Bradbury et al. ( 2018 ) determined that adolescents who used problem-focused coping styles felt more effective in coping with cyber-victimization stressors. Ronis and Slaunwhite ( 2019 ) found that problem-solving-based behaviors, such as asking for help from a teacher or parent, were effective in reducing cyber-bullying behaviors. These results suggest that the better the problem-solving skills of cyber-victims, the better their psychological health will be after stress. Indeed, using problem-solving coping skills in stressful situations positively affects well-being (Nicholls et al., 2016 ). Rose et al. ( 2023 ) reported that problem-focused coping skills are associated with well-being. Armstrong et al. ( 2019 ) state that cyber-victims' use of problem-solving skills makes them feel good. Also, problem-focused coping skills are related to emotion regulation, and positive emotions (Hampel et al., 2009 ) may lead to increased well-being of cyber-victims. Within problem-focused coping skills, cognitive processes such as making plans and finding new ways to solve problems can increase possible well-being (Eroglu et al., 2022 ; Peker & Yalcın, 2023 ).

Moreover, previous research shows evidence that cyber-victims use cognitive avoidance coping skills when faced with bullying. For example, Bradbury et al. ( 2018 ) state that cyber-victims use distancing and distraction skills in cyber-bullying incidents. Chua et al. ( 2022 ) report that when cyber-victims encounter bullying, ignoring the incident, trying not to think about the problem, and doing something different can increase their well-being. Weinstein et al. ( 2016 ) stated that cyber-victims commonly use coping styles of detachment (e.g., acting as if cyber-victimization never happened, completely ignoring the problem). Another study found that cognitive avoidance may be an internal resource for individuals to cope with stressful situations (Dickson et al., 2012 ). Oftentimes, victims online can accept that aggressive acts are a part of life, through the cognitive avoidance responses mentioned above. Additionally, victims may resort to cognitive avoidance coping skills when they feel intensely confident that cyber-bullying can be stopped (Tenenbaum et al., 2011 ). Therefore, cognitive avoidance coping can be seen as strategies that need further study rather than passive coping attempts. As a result, the avoidance of adolescents who are exposed to cyber-bullying, such as trying to forget about the problem, trying to act as if there is no problem, and ignoring the emotions associated with the problem, can increase their well-being.

Contrary to our expectations, help-seeking and behavioral avoidance coping skills did not play a role in mediating the relationship between cyber-victimization and perceived stress and well-being. According to TMSC, cyber-victims can examine and evaluate the incident they experienced and implement strategies to protect their mental health (Navarro et al., 2018 ; Raskauskas & Huynh, 2015 ). Adolescents who experience cyber-victimization may not consider help-seeking and behavioral avoidance as coping skills that will increase their well-being. Adolescents who experience cyber-victimization may want others to learn about their experiences. At the same time, cyber-victims can apply different strategies instead of avoiding the stressful situation they experience.

Findings provide evidence to suggest that problem-solving and cognitive avoidance coping skills are key factors for adolescent well-being and reduce the negative impact of cyber-victimization on well-being. Therefore, individuals who are exposed to cyber-bullying can help improve their well-being if they use problem-solving and cognitive avoidance coping skills in stressful situations. The use of these coping skills may enable cyber-victims to maintain their mental health in stressful situations. Cyber-victims' use of coping skills against the stress they experience can increase their well-being. Therefore, problem-solving and cognitive avoidance can be considered useful coping skills that cyber-victims can use. Additionally, our findings expand the literature on how cyber-victimization is related to well-being from the perspective of TMSC theory.

Limitations

The important findings of this study should be evaluated together with its limitations. First, the data of this study are limited in terms of sample size and the socio-cultural context of the school environment in which the study was conducted, so evidence from other contexts is required. Moreover, a larger study group may allow validation of our results across different cultural populations and conditions. Second, the research was conducted in a cross-sectional design; therefore longitudinal studies on cyber-victimization may reveal more detailed information. Third, this study examined a limited number of strategies related to coping skills. In further research, different variables can be addressed to better understand how primary and secondary sources of evaluation of cyber-victims increase their well-being. The model study can be re-examined with emotion-focused coping skills that may affect the well-being of cyber-victims. In this study, the stress states of adolescents when they encountered cyber-bullying were examined. In future studies, the relationships between cyber-victims' coping styles and well-being when they experience emotions such as sadness, anger, revenge, and hopelessness can be examined.

Despite these limitations, our study has contributed some new insights into the connection between victimization in virtual contexts and subsequent stress and coping to well-being. To fully understand the nature of cyber-victimization and the effects on the well-being of coping processes that may prevent it in the face of subsequent stressors, school-based mental health professionals should implement cyber-victimization prevention programs earlier in the developmental stages. Additionally, preventive programs should focus on students' stress perceptions and coping styles throughout the process. However, even though it is not among the findings of this study, parents' and teachers' approaches to technology and their knowledge levels may have an impact on the cyber-victimization experienced by adolescents on virtual platforms. Educational designs can be made especially for parents and teachers to create digital data security in children and support coping skills. This will provide a new perspective on the development of effective responses to cyber-victimization.

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Peker, A., Cengiz, S. & Eroğlu, Y. Coping skills and perceived stress as pathways to well-being in adolescents experiencing cyber-victimization. Curr Psychol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05864-2

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Top 10 student skills for success & growth.

Table of Contents

We no longer live in a world where straight A’s are all that we need to excel. Everyone, whether a student or a working professional, must have some necessary skills that help the individual grow. These skills are not found in books, but are developed through experiences, exposure and challenges. In this blog, you will come across the top 10 skills for students that can make their future brighter.

Communication:

One of the most important skills as a student is the ability to communicate effectively. Whether it’s explaining a concept to a friend or giving a speech in front of thousands of people, everyone requires good communication for it. Having open and honest communications helps in maintaining relationships, building networks, handling conflicts and radiating confidence. You may think that communication skills only mean talking or putting your thoughts into words. But communication goes far beyond it. The skills require speaking, listening to others, observing their tone, and even being empathetic to the other person. Always remember that ‘Communication is the Key!’.

Leadership:

When we hear the word ‘Leader’, we often imagine someone who makes every decision and bosses around other people. But believe us, Leadership is not that. This particular skill requires the individual to be firm in taking decisions, having good critical thinking, problem solving, and empathy.

Some ways to learn this quality early in life is by starting it from school itself. For example, in group projects or other class assignments, be the leader and formulate the planning. This way, you will start early in life, and gain the confidence that you need to be successful.

Technology Smart:

In a world where almost everything is digitalised, it is crucial for all of us to be familiar with the role of technology. Almost every other day we hear about new technologies and their uses. Whether you are in school, college or workplace, there will always be some tasks and projects that would require technology.

Having knowledge about technology allows you to carry out research for your projects, communicate with people globally, and share information when needed. Additionally, you would also require technology when you finish your education and move towards the working stage.

Problem-Solving:

Have you ever met someone who constantly complains about their problems? Next time you meet someone like that, try to understand their problem and think about a solution. Having problem-solving skills will also result in better academic performance for students.

Problems are inevitable, whether it’s choosing a career path or clarifying misunderstandings between friends. To practice such particular skills of a student, try to look for more than one solution when stuck with a problem. Or, decide only to be solution-focused from now on, so that your first instinct is to come with a solution.

Collaboration Skills:

Since childhood, we all have been told to be independent, compete against other students, and more. But as we grow older, one of the major skills examples for students becomes Collaborative Skills. This skill helps students in group projects, presentations, and brainstorming.

Remember, collaboration does not only mean that you work with your friends or colleagues. Collaboration consists of being open to new ideas, communicating positively, listening actively to others’ ideas, treating everyone equally and having mutual respect. Once you have mastered this skill, teamwork will seem easier and healthy.

Time Management:

Have you ever entered your class late? Have you seen students who do not complete their projects before the deadline? Sadly, in the practical world, you will not be asked to stand outside or write an extra assignment as punishment. If you want to avoid procrastinating every other task, then this skill is the one for you.

Having time management skills is so important for everyone, whether a student or a working professional. This skill allows students to manage their academics, create schedules, meet deadlines, set goals for themselves, and more. Therefore, an important personal skills examples for students is Time Management.

Adaptability:

To reach somewhere, you must leave from your current place. You must have met people or students who feel comfortable only in their preferred setting, or those who avoid being a part of new surroundings. Such behavior can lead to issues in adaptability, maybe in school itself or during job.

Imagine you get a job that requires you to move to a new city. Will you take the great opportunity or let it go just because your friends won’t be there? This is why adaptability is so crucial for personal and professional growth. You will meet new people all your life, and it is very important to blend in the new environment, make friends, and excel in your career, wherever you go.

Creativity:

You must have heard the phrase “Think outside the Box”. But how should we do it? What can we do or practice to gain this skill early in life? Creativity skill here majorly deals with coming up with new, innovative and creative ideas, that leave the other people shocked.

Whether it’s a school project, or a work presentation, creativity can be used everywhere. To develop this skill, you must seek out challenging tasks instead of picking up the same project again and again. Moreover, connect with other people, listen to their views, brainstorm with your friends, and try journaling.

Setting Goals:

Imagine working hard everyday but not knowing what the result will be. Doesn’t sound very pleasing, right? Everyone must have a goal in their life, which will further motivate them to work harder and smarter. For example, a school student will study hard and get straight A’s so that they can get a good college. Here, getting a good college is the student’s set Goal.

When you have a goal, you will have the aspiration, motivation, and ambition to work towards it. Setting goals can make life easier, as it gives you a direction to go forward on. But remember, setting realistic goals is very important, as unrealistic goals can lead to failure and feelings of anxiety and disappointment in the individual. To learn this particular skill, try following the SMART Goals framework.

Introspection:

One practice that everyone must follow is Introspection. When you have had a long day, just take out 15 minutes at night and think about the day you have had. Think about the places you went, conversations you had, projects you completed, or any other thing that happened to you all day.

When you recall your day, introspect in terms of whether what happened was right or not, is there something you should have done differently, and more. This practice will help you self-evaluate your thoughts, actions, conversations, and more. By following this skill, you can work towards a better, healthier and happier life. 

There are a number of skills that every student needs to excel in life. Some such special skills examples for students are given in the points above. Developing and practicing these skills in daily life will help students have h

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Problem-Solving in Elementary School

Elementary students practice problem-solving and self-questioning techniques to improve reading and social and emotional learning skills.

In a school district in New Jersey, beginning in kindergarten each child is seen as a future problem solver with creative ideas that can help the world. Vince Caputo, superintendent of the Metuchen School District, explained that what drew him to the position was “a shared value for whole child education.”

Caputo’s first hire as superintendent was Rick Cohen, who works as both the district’s K–12 director of curriculum and principal of Moss Elementary School . Cohen is committed to integrating social and emotional learning (SEL) into academic curriculum and instruction by linking cognitive processes and guided self-talk.

Cohen’s first focus was kindergarten students. “I recommended Moss teachers teach just one problem-solving process to our 6-year-olds across all academic content areas and challenge students to use the same process for social problem-solving,” he explained.  

Reading and Social Problem-Solving

Moss Elementary classrooms use a specific process to develop problem-solving skills focused on tending to social and interpersonal relationships. The process also concentrates on building reading skills—specifically, decoding and comprehension.

Stop, Look, and Think.  Students define the problem. As they read, they look at the pictures and text for clues, searching for information and asking, “What is important and what is not?” Social problem-solving aspect: Students look for signs of feelings in others’ faces, postures, and tone of voice.

Gather Information . Next, students explore what feelings they’re having and what feelings others may be having. As they read, they look at the beginning sound of a word and ask, “What else sounds like this?” Social problem-solving aspect: Students reflect on questions such as, “What word or words describe the feeling you see or hear in others? What word describes your feeling? How do you know, and how sure are you?”

Brainstorming . Then students seek different solutions. As they read, they wonder, “Does it sound right? Does it make sense? How else could it sound to make more sense? What other sounds do those letters make?” Social problem-solving aspect: Students reflect on questions such as, “How can you solve the problem or make the situation better? What else can you think of? What else can you try? What other ideas do you have?”  

Pick the Best One.  Next, students evaluate the solution. While reading, they scan for smaller words they know within larger, more difficult words. They read the difficult words the way they think they sound while asking, “Will it make sense to other people?” Social problem-solving aspect: Students reflect on prompts such as, “Pick the solution that you think will be best to solve the problem. Ask yourself, ‘What will happen if I do this—for me, and for others involved?’”

Go . In the next step, students make a plan and act. They do this by rereading the text. Social problem-solving aspect: Students are asked to try out what they will say and how they will say it. They’re asked to pick a good time to do this, when they’re willing to try it.

Check . Finally, students reflect and revise. After they have read, they ponder what exactly was challenging about what they read and, based on this, decide what to do next. Social problem-solving aspect: Students reflect on questions such as, “How did it work out? Did you solve the problem? How did others feel about what happened? What did you learn? What would you do if the same thing happened again?”

You can watch the Moss Elementary Problem Solvers video and see aspects of this process in action.

The Process of Self-Questioning 

Moss Elementary students and other students in the district are also taught structured self-questioning. Cohen notes, “We realized that many of our elementary students would struggle to generalize the same steps and thinking skills they previously used to figure out an unknown word in a text or resolve social conflicts to think through complex inquiries and research projects.” The solution? Teach students how to self-question, knowing they can also apply this effective strategy across contexts. The self-questioning process students use looks like this:

Stop and Think. “What’s the question?”

Gather Information. “How do I gather information? What are different sides of the issue?”

Brainstorm and Choose. “How do I select, organize, and choose the information? What are some ways to solve the problem? What’s the best choice?”

Plan and Try. “What does the plan look like? When and how can it happen? Who needs to be involved?”

Check & Revise. “How can I present the information? What did I do well? How can I improve?”

The Benefits

Since using the problem-solving and self-questioning processes, the students at Moss Elementary have had growth in their scores for the last two years on the fifth-grade English language arts PARCC tests . However, as Cohen shares, “More important than preparing our students for the tests on state standards, there is evidence that we are also preparing them for the tests of life.”