Audrey DeLorenzo

1/31/17
Teaching Math and Technology

Critical Analysis of Problem Solving in Social Contexts

In the text, Children Solving Problems, Thornton argues that problem solving is a social

process and therefore advises elementary school teachers to value learning and teaching

problem-solving in social contexts. Problem solving depends on social interactions. A mature

problem-solver must understand the shared assumptions and meanings of our culture and

therefore distinguish between effective and non-effective solutions to a problem. Sharing the task

of solving a problem builds the skills children must develop to grow as problem-solvers.

Thornton argues that social contexts play a critical role in problem-solving: pushing students to

re-evaluate in the face of a conflict, scaffolding students with a skilled partner, motivation

through meaningful goals, providing social feedback of failure or success, and contributing

diverse opportunities and experiences to develop mature problem-solvers.

Conflicts in views between children collaborating on a problem can productively change

their conceptions and push them to develop new strategies. Thornton references a study by

Martin Clachan and Paul Light that observed how two collaborators with different strategies

shared decision-making to learn a more sophisticated strategy together. In my middle school

math class we worked in small groups to solve puzzles. Oftentimes we disagreed and then shared

our reasonings before coming up with a better strategy together. New feedback is essential to

new discoveries and progression towards a strategy more effectively focused on the problem.

Additionally, Thornton builds off of Vygotskys argument that children acquire skills

through sharing problem-solving with a skilled partner. Help from a teacher can structure the

task and guide the child, exceeding his or her individual capacity. Working within the childs
zone of proximal development, teachers enable their students to learn the most from their

experiences of shared problem-solving. Scaffolded support from teachers allows students to learn

skills, as teachers slowly withdraw support in stages when the child can take over. The best

scaffolding techniques combine sensitivity to the childs need for support and a firm, demanding

style of communicating and enforcing rules. Guided participation is a collaborative process with

which adult and child share problem-solving. The adult explains and supports the childs efforts,

yet both the adult and child work together in the decision-making process. Children learn more

from interacting with an adult than a child who is an expert at the task. In elementary school,

when I was confused about fractions my teacher used tangram manipulatives to demonstrate the

fractions, guiding me until I could represent the fractions on my own. Joining a more

experienced problem-solver, students are able to share in the decision-making and gradually take

on more responsibility.

Teachers should consider the kind of skill that is to be taught and the extent to which the

skill is taught in the context of purposes and meanings the child can comprehend. Concrete

problem-solving skills are easiest to teach and to learn, but teachers must guide students to

understand abstract principles as well. It is easier for children to learn in contexts where they

understand and share the goals that motivate problem-solving. Children are more motivated with

meaningful purposes that provide a structure for the use of skills. Their success depends on the

commitment to solving problems whose purpose they understand. A goal motivates them to

persist and pay attention to the details of the problem, enhancing learning. Purposes structure

childrens processes of solving problems. Thornton provides the funhouse study where half of

the children were asked to explore the funhouse until they understood the best path to make their

way through without getting stuck and the other half were asked to explore until they had a good
grasp of the overall layout. The study found that both groups remembered the routes through the

funhouse equally accurately, but the group specifically asked to explore the layout remembered

more about the dead-end rooms and about the relative position of the rooms. This example

illustrates that the purpose motivating the childs exploration impacted what information the

child gathered and how that information was structured and could later be used. Problem-solving

skills are organized around the purpose behind the problem. One of my math teachers in

elementary school would always write the goal of the math lesson on the board to guide our

activity. Effective teachers should share their objectives for each activity with the class to clarify

the information and structure they want their students to use.

A sense of pride and personal contribution boost confidence necessary for children to

become good problem-solvers. Evidence from a study by Robert Hartley on the impact of

confidence on problem-solving supports Thorntons reasoning. The disadvantaged children in the

study were impulsive, did not plan things effectively or monitor how well things were going, and

did not correct their mistakes. However, when these same children were told to pretend to be the

brightest child in the class and do things the way that child would the children instantly became

less impulsive, more playful, and noticed and corrected their mistakes. The children were more

successful in solving the problems when social information and low self-opinions no longer held

them back. My teacher had us play a multiplication game called around the world in which

students would battle members of the class and move on after getting the first correct answer.

This game gave me anxiety in front of the class and I was more hesitant to answer after being

beaten round after round. Similarly to the children in the study, I shut down when I felt like I was

not as smart as my other classmates.

 The experience of failure can contribute to learned helplessness which lowers a childs

achievement in a task after a depressing failure. An example is when I failed a math quiz in

middle school and repeatedly had to re-take my math quizzes throughout the semester, feeling

frustrated and defeated. To combat this phenomenon, teachers can improve problem-solving by

helping children be more confident in their own abilities. In the face of student insecurities and

fear of failure teachers should provide positive feedback and only constructive criticism.

Teachers should be wary of underestimating the complexity of what a child will need to learn to

master each new step in problem-solving and producing confusion and misunderstanding as a

consequence. Teachers have the responsibility of providing opportunities for learning. Teachers

control childrens opportunities to address different kinds of problems. Teachers shape their

experiences, avoiding problems believed to be too difficult and directing them towards activities

thought to be appropriate for their age and abilities.

Success in problem-solving depends on rich representations of the problem and possible

solutions associated with expert knowledge. Therefore children are not consistent in solving

problems across different tasks or different versions of the same task. Rich knowledge across

many areas expands the possible range of analogies that can be used to address a new problem

and the potential to transfer skills. When learning about shapes and patterns in elementary school

my class made our own patterns using differently shaped-blocks and then looked for patterns we

encountered in our everyday life, expanding the range of our knowledge. Formal schooling is

essential to a childs ability to decontextualize skills and separate them from their original,

familiar, or comprehensible purposes.

When children are given opportunities, information, and experiences they are able to

develop their problem-solving abilities. Through social interactions skills are transmitted, in
particular with sharing the process of problem-solving with a more skilled adult. Furthermore,

the social world guides and controls the childs access to opportunities to grow. As a future

practicing teacher, I will consider the importance of student collaboration, yet bolster their

problem-solving even further as a skilled teacher working within my students zone of proximal

development. I will explain the purpose of class activities to clearly structure problem-solving.

My class would reflect a balance between group work for a healthy conflict of ideas and one on

one teacher guidance and scaffolding. Additionally, I will recognize the important role

confidence plays and therefore provide positive feedback and only constructive criticism.

Understanding the essential role of social contexts in childrens problem solving, I will

implement responsive teaching methods to foster the problem-solving development of my

students.