Hi! I wanted to share a couple of interesting articles I have recently read, both of which illustrate how important it is to provide students with meaningful problem solving opportunities. The first one, "Against Algebra", written by Temple Grandin, isn’t arguing that algebra isn’t important, but that we need to reconsider how we teach math to students, taking into account their differences and providing them with “engagement with real life projects” because “We need future generations that can build and repair infrastructure, overhaul energy and agriculture, develop robotics and AI.” She talks about the teachers she had who recognized how her brain works, and that the fact that she thinks in pictures could be a strength for her, rather than a disability, and how much impact that made on her life.
If you don’t know about Temple Grandin, she’s definitely worth reading about - she’s put so much good into the world, and I’m sure having educators that amplified her strengths along the way helped to make this possible.
The second is an article from Edutopia: “If You’re Not Failing, You’re Not Learning”. In this article learning scientist Manu Kapur lays out the case for presenting students with “carefully designed problem solving activities based on productive failure principles”, allowing students to engage in productive struggle and not stepping in the second they get frustrated, which is so often our instinct as educators!
In all of our VEX STEM Labs, there are ample opportunities for real-world problem solving and productive struggle as students iterate through highly relevant coding and engineering challenges.
I highly recommend both of these articles - if you read either of them, let us know your thoughts!
