Problem Solving Part 1

One thing I think that many children struggle with is solving problems appropriately. And lets be honest... so do many adults! The ultimate goal for the first part of this lesson is to have kids determine the size of a problem and make sure their reaction size matches the problem size.

So to start off the lesson, a short video about exaggerated reaction sizes:

Then have a discussion on if this reaction was appropriate to the problem. "The way you react to a problem should match the size of the problem. When a problem is small, your reaction should be small. When the problem is big, your reaction would be much bigger. Why might you want to make sure your reaction is appropriate to the problem? (Answer: you could get people hurt, you could use valuable resources trying to solve a small problem, you could make people upset by blowing a small problem out of proportion, the list goes on!) So talk about what constitutes little, medium, and big problems. 

Here is a quick example...

And some example scenarios:

1) During silent reading time, the person next to you is drawing. 

2) You are at lunch and you hear people talking about a fight after school. 

3) Someone keeps poking you in the shoulder with a pencil during class. 

4) A classmate keeps annoying another classmate by kicking her desk. 

5) A person from class comes up to you and calls you a name and tells you that he is going to "get you". 

6) Someone in front of you in class is chewing gum. Chewing gum during school is against the rules. 

Problem Solving Part 2 to come soon! Here's a hint... it involves the steps to problem solving and a jeopardy game!