Students will automatically be attracted to the attributes and convenience that We 2.0 offers but they will not automatically see the advantages to becoming mater problem solvers. We will have to see this to them, market it so that it make sense to our students. Here, at the elementary level, it is more difficult because our children cannot even imaging what it is like to be grown up. They cannot see how it will help them in the future because they cannot imagine life that far ahead. The bad news is that we have to be very creative and persistent and even incorporate more fun into the learning process. The good new is that the window for teaching them and giving them a good foundation in problem solving skills is long!
First, we need to teach students what a "problem" is and help them identify them. There are some great ideas on pages 6 and 7 of Needham.
Next, as Berger suggests, we can foster good problem solving skills by giving them authentic problems. This will is llustrate the legitimacy of the process. we need to motivate them to learn, work smarter and see that the skill of problem solving is vital to life long learning and therefore, success. One way to do this is to incorporate and integrate the technology that they are familiar with and like to use. How to do this? We can use technology as a vehicle to share such as wikis and blog; to practice such as online games; for relevancy such as videos and You Tube. If we use the tools that make sense to them, we will make the problem solving process more appealing and relevant to thier life styles.
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