Learning and Development: Problem Solving - Quick thinking

There are a number of definitions of problem solving, and they all link the ability to solve problems with the range of thinking skills: enquiry, information processing, reasoning, evaluation, and creativity as well as problem solving.

The skill of problem solving engages us in building on known concepts, knowledge and previous experience, and using these in new ways to find solutions and answers which may not at first seem obvious.

Problem solving is not an activity with a defined product or outcome at the end, but rather a process. At the end of the process, a child, or group of children, might conclude, based on what they know and can do at the time, that there is no solution to the problem. Of course, as we get older, and our experiences multiply, we are often able to solve problems that seemed to be insoluble before.

Thinking is of prime importance in problem solving. Children should be encouraged to think creatively and use their imaginations. The key to developing thinking lies in the development of language.

Language allows children to negotiate and interact with other people they work with. Language also helps children to organise, sequence and clarify their thinking so that they can reply to open-ended questions posed by practitioners and other adults. Well-developed language also allows children to negotiate and interact with others as they work.

By challenging, supporting and extending their thinking on a regular basis, young children will develop the skill to solve problems, and this will become a permanent feature of their learning, especially if the problems we pose are meaningful and relevant to the children's interests.

ASKING QUESTIONS

One of the most important strategies in supporting children in problem solving is in the skilful use of questioning. Questions can help children to identify what the problem is and what they already know about it. They can help to simplify the task by breaking it into steps and to create a plan.

Questioning should be supportive and scaffold the children's learning, but the practitioner should avoid filling in too many gaps or offering their own solutions. The questions posed should be open-ended, encouraging the child to:

- think
- plan
- predict
- explain
- recall
- describe
- compare
- re-tell
- ask questions
- voice their own ideas and suggestions

Questioning thus essentially promotes the development of children's language and thinking skills. Practitioners should listen carefully to their answers, as these will show what they have noticed and what they consider important.

Open-ended questions have many possible answers. They often begin with What? How? Why? For example:

- What do you want to happen?
- What do you want it to do?
- What will happen if ...?
- What could you do first/next/then/after that?
- How can you ...?
- How could we ...?
- Why are you ...?
- Why do you think ...?

However, be careful not to over-use questioning. In some instances, giving prompts or thinking aloud can be more supportive for the children, as can your gesture and facial expression. Try phrasing ideas in ways such as:

- I've seen something like this before.
- I remember when ...
- Can we find another way to ...?
- I think I'll try ...
- I wonder if ...

Questioning can also be used at the end of the problem solving activity, giving the children the opportunity to review their work and discuss other options for another time.

BUILDING PROBLEM SOLVING INTO CONTINUOUS PROVISION

Offering children problems to solve as they work in free choice activities is one way to embed problem solving into the culture of your setting. Try some of these:

- Leave familiar objects in unusual places to stimulate questions and hypotheses, such as a puppet in a tree, a toy down a hole, something outside the fence. Ask children to help find a solution to the problem.

- Leave simple new resources such as a piece of guttering, a rope, a basket, a new piece of fabric, some clothes pegs, or CDs, and see how children incorporate them in their play.

- Put a ring in a box, a lost toy, a pair of big shoes in the play area so children are challenged to think about what they are, how they got there and how to get them back to their owner.

- Remove a piece of essential or popular equipment, such as the ladder from the slide, and see whether the children can manage without it, by devising an alternative.

- Try a day with no paintbrushes for the paint, bats but no balls, fruit but no knife to cut it, and let the children suggest what you could use instead.

- Leave problems on cards for other children to read. Make this an optional choice for them in the bricks, construction or sand area.

- Leave a note or message for children to find indoors or outside, explaining a problem that they could solve, such as someone who hasn't had any birthday cards, a lost pet needing a poster for the noticeboard, the secretary needing help with a job, a broken toy that needs fixing, a small object lost in the sand.

- Build problem solving into every day by inviting children to solve simple challenges such as a new way to serve snacks, a different place to have the role-play area, a way to help someone who has no-one to play with, a different way to make a picture or tell a story.

- This is an edited extract from Problem Solving - Ideas and activities to unlock current topics by Margaret Martin (Featherstone Education).

PROBLEM SOLVING ACTIVITY - CAN YOU MAKE GIANT BUBBLES?

WHAT YOU NEED

In addition to choice from the general resources:

- single shallow containers of pre-made or bought bubble mix;

- jugs of water, bottles of washing-up liquid, spoons;

- variety of implements, wands, pipe cleaners, wire, plastic bottles;

- paper towels and bin.

IDEAS FOR PRESENTATION

A challenge suspended from a balloon above the resources

WHAT YOU DO

1. Talk about the problem with the children and discuss how you could make really big bubbles, and how you could measure the biggest.

2. Look at all the resources and discuss which ones might work best before leaving the children to select the ones they need.

3. Support their attempts as they work, encouraging talking and thinking.

4. Help them, if they need it, to make the 'wand-type' tools for blowing the bubbles. Discuss their progress with them, ensuring that you do not solve the problem for them.

5. Finally, let the children demonstrate their bubble blowing and share comments.

USEFUL VOCABULARY

bubble, washing-up, liquid, container, blow, suck, wand, wire, tools, size, big, huge, sphere, round, burst, float

TAKING IT FURTHER

- Draw pictures.

- Photograph the activity.

Then you could:

- Try making a bubble of a different shape or colour.

- Try putting something inside a bubble.

- Explore the addition of other materials to the bubble mixture, such as glycerine or sugar.

- Explore bubble kits and bubble machines.

And another thing...

Blowing bubbles outdoors can give rise to lots of interesting questions, such as 'Why do bubbles burst?' 'What is inside a bubble?' 'How do bubbles move?'

Health and safety Ensure the children know the difference between blowing and sucking; don't share any blowing tools they have had in their mouths; monitor the use of wire.

LINKS TO EYFS GUIDANCE
- UC 1.2 Child Development
- PR 2.3 Supporting Learning
- EE 3.3 The Learning Environment
- L&D 4.1 Play and Exploration
- L&D 4.2 Active Learning
- L&D 4.3 Creativity and Critical Thinking.