Problem solving
2
Key concepts
Very young children bring their own problem solving strategies to nursery and preschool settings, and use them in design and technology activities. Research has found that these problem solving strategies develop and change as children move through Key Stages 1 and 2.
In fact, the way these strategies are used by primary children to tackle problems depends not only on their age but also on their experience of design and technology activities, the types of tasks they have undertaken, and the variety of resources available.
Some of the strategies that young children use to tackle problems have been identified. General social and subject specific strategies complement each other during children's designing and making. These strategies are used, not necessarily in any order, in an integrated process of designing and making. They include:
Personalisation. Identification of wants and needs. Negotiation and reposing the task. Focusing on tasks, tools and materials. Practice and planning. Identifying difficulties. Talking self through problems. Tackling obstacles. Panic or persistence Showing and evaluating.
Teachers can recognise, build upon, and extend these strategies by offering a rich range of design and technology activities. Children's problem solving strategies are most easily recognised when pupils work together in small groups. What have you noticed about the problem solving strategies of groups of children in your class?