Teacher Perspectives on Designing for Problem-Solving

Team: Justin Baker - graduate student, Human Factors & Ergonomics, lead researcher; David DeLiema, associate professor, Educational Psychology, faculty advisor; Betsy Stretch, graduate student, Curriculum & Instruction, co-researcher.

Program: Human Factors & Ergonomics

How do teachers in an elementary school that values child self-determination think about and design for the learning of problem solving skills?

Teachers and staff at The School of Northern Lights (SNL), a St. Paul charter school, adopt a philosophy which encourages that children learn through play, collaboration, and student-driven projects, with broader aims of developing children’s social skills, generalized problem-solving, and love of learning. As part of a larger study investigating how adults support the development of children’s autonomous problem-solving skills in play-oriented environments, we conducted artifact-based interviews with 8 teaching staff at SNL. Building on Sandoval’s concept of the conjecture map (2013), we used interactive maps to guide the teachers through visualizing and describing how they think about and design their learning environments to support the development of these skills with their students.  
*This project was partially funded by the HFE Micro-Grant program.