Lab: The Problem Solving Approach

This lab on the problem solving approach was by far the most difficult for me! Everything from coming up with an idea and writing the lesson plan seemed to be challenging. I finally decided to do my lesson on food supply and population growth. 

I began with a interest approach that involved cutting up an apple to display the different parts of the world where we are able to produce food. It ended with just a small piece of the skin that represented the total amount of land for food production. I was pretty excited about this part of the lesson and it went well. 

We then worked through a series of questions in small groups then as an entire class. I knew that questions were super important to the problem solving approach so I was really focused on making sure my questions were good while writing my lesson plan. However, when actually presenting in lab I felt my question could have been better. 

Another thing I struggled with was making the subject matter really relevant to the students and making sure they knew exactly what question we were trying to solve. The lab didn't go as well as I hoped but overall I really enjoyed it. 

I feel that the problem solving approach can be very beneficial and effective in the classroom! It may take some extra planning and thought but in the end can be really cool! I'm looking forward to use the problem solving approach during student teaching!

"Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven't planted"

~David Bly