The instructor’s guide contains several useful tools, discussion questions, a case study, review questions, additional chapter assignments, lesson examples and a student application assignment. As the Instructor, pick and choose which of these materials work for you or you may decide to use our ideas and create your own. This guide is intended to help solidify the information from the chapter and help you as an instructor implement the application of these materials.

 

Discussion Questions

The following questions are intended for use in a small group discussion setting. Please use these questions to help the students understand the important concepts in this chapter. To add interest to class discussions, copy and paste some or all of these questions into a Nearpod https://nearpod.comor PowToon, https://www.powtoon.com, to create a fun, user friendly student-voice based review.

1. In your own words describe problem solving and its use within the
   classroom.
2. With a partner discuss several problem based subjects that you are aware of.
3. Which problem based subjects are you passionate about?
4. Describe the difference between open ended and closed ended structure.
5. Discuss the Inquiry Method with a partner.
6. List the steps of the Inquiry Method and ways in which this method can be used in the classroom, in Science or any other subjects.
7. In your small groups, discuss problem-based learning and how it applies to your teaching style?
8. Discuss various process methods for researching and discovering answers to the problems discussed in your small groups.
9. How do the common core standards fit with and enhance problem based learning? http://www.corestandards.org

 

 

Case: Super Store

 

As you read the following scenario, note how the teacher guides the students during the inquiry process.

A major discount retailer wants to build a giant new superstore in the small rural town where Ms. Lee teaches eighth-grade social studies. Ms. Lee’s students have been exposed to picketers, mailers, publicly posted flyers, and letters in the local newspaper both supporting and opposing the superstore. On one side, some local small businesspeople are worried that they will be put out of business by the giant, and other town citizens are concerned that their way of life will be ruined by extra traffic, noise, pollution, and low-paying jobs. Others who oppose the superstore complain that the low wages that the store pays will mean fewer good jobs in town. On the other side, the Chamber of Commerce, some educators, and other citizens anticipate more revenue to pay for schools and roads, and some people are looking forward to having a nearby place to shop and save money.

Ms. Lee’s students are also divided on the issue, echoing the partisan arguments of their parents and friends. Her students tell her that they would like to know the “real story.” Ms. Lee decides that this is an excellent opportunity for students to study a large range of economic, political, and social issues that directly impact them and their families. Ms. Lee agrees to plan a project for the students to help the town solve the dilemma over whether the superstore is in the best interests of the town. During the project she will focus on problem solving and inquiry and use technology to support both.

Case Review Questions

Answer these questions about the case. There are no right or wrong answers—the goal is for you to respond before you read the chapter. Then, as you interact with the chapter contents, think about how your answers might change.

1. What prior content and language knowledge do the students need to solve this problem?

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2. What process should the students follow to find a solution to the problem?

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3. What should Ms. Lee’s role in the project be?

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4. What role can technology play in helping the students to solve their problem?

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Ms. Lee understands that this issue is important for her students to understand, and that it also presents a learning experience that will help them gain in content knowledge, language, and skills. The goal of this chapter is to help you to understand how teachers and technology can sup- port student problem solving. After reading this chapter, you will be able to

· Define problem solving and inquiry.

· Understand the interaction between problem solving and other instructional goals.

· Discuss guidelines and technologies for encouraging effective student problem solving.

· Create and adapt effective technology-enhanced tasks to support problem solving.

· Assess student technology-supported problem solving.

When you have completed this chapter, which NETS*T will you have addressed?

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Like critical and creative thinking, problem solving is not an easy thing to teach. However, educators believe it is crucially important that students gain these skills. The standards that support this goal in every content area demonstrate the significance of problem solving. See the Meeting the Standards feature on the next page for an overview of these standards.

Tools

There are many tools that can support parts of the problem- solving process if the teacher has the time and desire to find and evaluate them. Many of these are described in the Tools section of this chapter. Microsoft Student provides many of these supports in one software package, saving teachers time and effort (but not money—the package costs about $70).

Student features four main tools that serve a variety of purposes. These include:

· Encarta Premium. Much more than an electronic encyclopedia, this tool contains 300 video clips, 66,000 articles, over 25,000 photos, an atlas, thesaurus, dictionary, and sound and music clips. It also includes Encarta Kids with content for younger learners. This is a very thorough resource for inquiry about thousands of topics and a good place to start gathering information on a project.

· Math tools. The math tools include an online graphing calculator, an equation library, and homework help. Students can use these tools not only for solving math problems but for graphing information to support problems in other areas.

· Learning essentials. This section includes tutorials for the Microsoft Office Suite, writing tutorials, and templates for writing in different genres. Students can get support for presenting their inquiry and problem-solving projects.

Student has additional features such as foreign language tools, but more important than what it has is what it can do. First, Student can help support students during inquiry by providing resources in a variety of modes. By providing information in formats from audio to video, Student makes it possible for ELLs and students with different learning preferences to access the content.

Second, tutorials such as that showing how to make diagrams in Microsoft Word can help students to organize, synthesize, and present information during PBL. In the same way, templates can assist students in preparing and presenting their problem solutions. Other tools scaffold student learning during PBL and make it possible for students with different language backgrounds to communicate. Another benefit is that, because the tools are bundled, students know where to go to find what they need.

There are problems with the software. For example, it runs only on the Microsoft operating system, and teachers need to spend time learning the tools to understand how best to use them with students. In spite of this, Student is a powerful software package that can support effective problem solving and inquiry in K-12 classrooms.

Based on the description of Student, what other characteristics of PBL does it support? Would you try this software? Why or why not?

 

SAMPLE LESSON: PROBLEM-SOLVING

After they complete their research on the topic, Ms. Lee’s students will create a Web site focusing on the superstore issue. They will use the site to collect additional information and opinions. However, before they start Ms. Lee wants to reinforce concepts about fair use and copyright. She finds a lesson that might work at PBS’s Teacher Source (http://www.pbs.org).

 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Grade Level:4–8, 9–12

Subject:Technology, Arts, Current Events

Introduction: Many people share the misconception that information found on the Internet is free and for all to use without permission. However, by collecting many images, sounds, and readings when creating a Web site you may be violating a per- son’s intellectual property (IP) or copyright.

1. Begin this lesson by introducing your students to the concepts of intellectual property and copyright to your students.

Definitions:

• Intellectual property represents the property of your mind or intellect. Types of intellectual property include patents, trademarks, designs, confidential information/ trade secrets, copyright, circuit layout rights, plant breeder’s rights, etc.
• Copyright protects the original expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves. It is free and automatically safeguards your original works of art, literature, music, films, broadcasts and computer programs from copying and certain other uses.

1. Explore these questions with your students: How are the two concepts similar and different? What are the various types of intellectual property? Why do laws protecting IP exist? How has the revolution in communications technology over the past decade complicated issues surrounding IP?

You and your students may want to use these resources for more information:

• This Website focuses on technology and copyright lawhttps://copyrightandtechnology.com
• Crash Course in Copyright, YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tamoj84j64I
• Intellectual Property law https://cpip.gmu.edu

 

Ms. Lee likes to see that the lesson provides a guideline but is not too prescriptive of what students should do. She uses the Lesson Analysis and Adaptation Worksheet (found in chapter 1 on page 33 and in the Lesson Planning module of the Companion Website) to figure out what she needs to do to make this lesson work for her students. She decides to make these adaptations based on her analysis:

• Because there are no standards or objectives, she will add these. She particularly wants to focus on the NETS*S that recommend that students understand and practice responsible uses of technology and that they use technology resources for solving problems.
• Rather than just answer questions, Ms. Lee will ask her students to research some answers and compare them with what classmates found. Then she will ask them to develop a set of guidelines, in their choice of medium, for the class to refer to when they are using online re- sources. This addition will support student inquiry, communication, critical thinking, production, and creativity along with content learning and problem-solving.
• Ms. Lee will brainstorm with students the possible sub-questions that will help them answer the questions in the lesson. She will assign each student dyad to find information on one sub-question, keeping the students active and each making a contribution.
• Technology is used as a tool in this lesson and helps students discover a variety of viewpoints and resources. However, to make sure that all students can access the resources, she will add both print and electronic references at a variety of levels for students to choose from.
• Ms. Lee will use the guidelines that students create as part of her assessment, and she will continue to observe how well her students follow the guidelines as they create their Web pages for the superstore project.
• Ms. Lee believes that, with the additions she will make, this lesson will support the objectives and provide her students with practice in many skill areas.

 

Adapt

Choose a lesson for your potential subject area and grade level from the Internet4Classrooms page of Integrated Technology Lesson Plans (http://www.internet4classrooms.com). Use the Lesson Analysis and Adaptation Worksheet from chapter 1, consider the lesson in the context of problem-solving. Use your responses to the worksheet to suggest general changes to the lesson based on your current or future students and context.

 

Practice

1. Determine tool levels. Apply Gordon’s three-level scheme to the tools listed in this chap- ter. Which level would each tool be appropriate for? Why?
2. Review a tool. Review one of the tools described in the chapter, including tools to spot plagiarism. Explain how it addresses problem-solving and inquiry and how you might integrate it into your current or future classroom.
3. Practice planning. Review the sample activities in this chapter. Choose three, and describe how you could integrate reading and writing into the activities to promote effective problem-solving.

 

Explore

1. Create an activity. Outline a WebQuest, ThinkQuest, WIP, or other inquiry or problem- solving activity. Describe each stage briefly but clearly.
2. Create a standards-based task. Choose a national or state standard for your subject area and grade level. Write a problem based on that standard following the characteristics de- scribed in the chapter, and then evaluate the problem using the characteristics of effective tasks.
3. Turn theory into practice. Use the adapted Figure 6.2 on page 161 to develop a classroom lesson based on the PBL process. On the chart below, fill in the “Lesson” column with ideas for each step.

 

 

Step	Example	Lesson
1.Contextualize the question	Ask, “What is the question here? What should we do about it”
2.Develop objectives	Figure out the goal and the skills the task will meet.
3.Review background	Explore materials and tools that focus on the problem.
4.Write the problem	Be specific about student roles and responsibilities
5.Develop scaffolds	Create documents, mini-lessons, and other helps
6.evaluate student needs	Review students’ current level of knowledge and skills
7.Implement	Provide clear instructions and ongoing observation and feedback

 

Additional Student Application

The following assignment is intended to help individual students go beyond what they’ve read and apply the information from the chapter. After reading chapter 6 students will have a broad overview of problem-solving and critical thinking and how to apply it. This application assignment will delve more deeply into the uses of technology in problem-solving, more specifically, online research sites and virtual field trips.

 

Choose a specific grade for this lesson design. Choose either project 1 or 2.

As a teacher, you will need to guide your students through the problem-solving process. The following application projects will guide you through the process of designing a simple lesson.

 

Project 1

Think of a problem that your students may have experienced or seen in the local or national news, such as a controversial business or a social issue, which causes community or nationwide debate.

1. Write a brief description of the problem or issue.
2. Who does this particular problem affect?
3. List 2 objectives you would give your students that represent the goal you wish to achieve in your problem-based assignment.
4. Outline ways in which you could encourage problem-solving in your classroom with this problem as the central discussion point.
5. Describe what an open-ended or loosely structured problem is. How does this apply to this assignment?
6. Considering the example in the text, describe the scaffolding you would need to make this assignment successful for all of your students.
7. What technology tools could you incorporate to accomplish this problem-solving
   dilemma? How would you use these tools to find the information needed for the problem you are researching?
8. Please list two additional websites that you found useful.
9. Describe how you would differentiate your lesson for ELL and Special Ed students.
10. Discuss how you would conclude the process regarding the problem discussed in this assignment.
11. How would you assess the success of this project?

 

Project 2

Find a virtual field trip for your students that explores problem-solving in the present or in history. Use Nearpod, Google Expeditions or Spiral.ac to design your lesson. After you’ve chosen a virtual field trip from one of these sites, please answer the following questions.

1. Which virtual tour did you choose?
2. Describe how this tour fulfills the problem-based learning requirement.
3. Outline ways in which you could encourage problem-solving using this virtual tour.
4. Describe what an open-ended or loosely structured problem is. How does this apply to this assignment?
5. List 2 objectives you would give your students that represent the goal of your problem-based assignment.
6. Considering the example in the text, describe the scaffolding you would need to make this project successful for all of your students.
7. What other technology tools could you incorporate to accomplish this problem-solving
   dilemma? How would you use these tools to find the information needed for the problem you are researching?
8. Describe how you would differentiate your lesson for all of your students, including your ELL and Special Ed students.
9. Discuss how you would conclude the process regarding the problem discussed in this assignment.
10. How would you assess the success of this project?

 

Website tools:

 

https://nearpod.com/nearpod-vr

https://edu.google.com/expeditions/

 

https://spiral.ac/teacher