Brian Wansink, David R. Just and Joe McKendry Go to related Op-Chart »
Teaching ideas based on New York Times content.
Overview | How can real problems be approached and analyzed in ways that lead to practical solutions? What distinguishes effective solutions from ineffective ones? In this lesson, students consider how to work through a practical problem. They identify problems in their school that need fixing, then devise viable solutions to one of those problems, using problem-solving models and drawing on strategies like the social science of behavioral change. They then test some of their proposed solutions in the field and propose them to the school.
Materials | Computers with Internet access (optional); copies of the What’s Your Problem? handout (PDF)
Warm-Up | Tell students they will now consider a problem they recently confronted and make flow charts showing all the possible solutions they considered, including the final “fix.” You might explain that this exercise allows them to examine the critical thinking skills that they already use when looking for solutions to everyday problems.
To stimulate thinking, you might start by brainstorming some typical decisions, like when to do homework (modeled partly on the handout) or how to study for a challenging exam, or even relatively “light” problems, like what Halloween costume to wear.
Give students the What’s Your Problem? graphic organizer (PDF) to help them break down the various possible solutions and why each one did or did not work. You might also share some basic problem-solving steps to lead them in thinking through their problems.
Invite students to share their problems and solutions with the group and to reflect on the difference between solutions that seemed feasible but were not really effective in the long term. Invite students to reflect, too, on their thought process. Ask: What did you need to know about yourself and the task or problem in order to solve it successfully? What else did you need to know, about things like available resources, environment and so on? What is the difference between a quick fix and a successful solution?
Related | In the Op-Chart “Lunch Line Redesign,” Brian Wansink, David R. Just and Joe McKendry illustrate some tactics that have been used to influence children to make more healthful choices in the school cafeteria:
School cafeterias are much criticized for offering the kind of snack foods and desserts that contribute to childhood obesity. But banning junk food from cafeterias, as some schools have tried, or serving only escarole or tofu, can backfire. Students then skip lunch, bring in their own snacks or head out for fast food. We’ve even seen some pizzas delivered to a side door.
Children and teenagers resist heavy-handed nutritional policies — and the food that is associated with the heavy hand. No food is nutritious, after all, until it is actually eaten.
A smarter lunchroom wouldn’t be draconian. Rather, it would nudge students toward making better choices on their own by changing the way their options are presented. One school we have observed in upstate New York, for instance, tripled the number of salads students bought simply by moving the salad bar away from the wall and placing it in front of the cash registers.
Read the entire chart with your class, using the questions below.
Questions | For discussion and reading comprehension:
Activity | Explain to students that they will now brainstorm problems in the school, then choose one to try to solve.
Encourage students to think in categories. Here are some categories to get you started, along with an example of a specific topic for each one:
Make sure students narrow categories and topics down to specific problems. For example, for overcrowding, they might focus on the question of how to ease hallway congestion during passing times. Students might also expand beyond strictly school-based problems to include school-related problems, like chronic lack of sleep among students.
After brainstorming is over, have the class vote on one problem to tackle as a group. Then put students in working groups of pairs or trios to identify, research and propose a viable and innovative solution for the problem.
You may wish to first familiarize students with the four-step problem-solving method of the mathematician George Polya. Have students approach their problem using the following steps, which apply Polya’s method:
Step 1: Understand the Problem — Formulate a clear statement of the desired outcome of the problem by asking the questions: What do we know about the problem? What do we not know? Is there enough information to help us find a solution? If not, what information do we need?
Step 2: Collect Data — Go out into the field to make observations and collect data that will help us better understand the problem and identify its most significant factors. For example, if students are trying to solve the problem of hallway overcrowding, they might post students in various places to observe traffic and congestion spots at different times of day (analogies to car traffic jams might be useful), interview teachers, students, administrators and school employees, and collect data like hallway width, number of total students, number of students coming out of classrooms and time between classes. (Groups might collaborate on this step to avoid redundancies.)
Step 3: Devise a Plan — With data in hand, working groups discuss and brainstorm possible solutions, using the What’s Your Problem? graphic organizer (PDF).
Students might consider using one of the following innovative problem-solving methods:
For further inspiration, they might look at the annual Year in Ideas issues of The Times Magazine from 2009, 2008 and earlier.
For each potential solution to their real-world problems, students discuss reasons that it may or may not work. In the instance of overcrowded hallways, for example, students might propose increasing passing time, encouraging students to put large bags into lockers or mandating traffic routes.
Carry Out the Plan — Each group takes on one solution to develop further and, if possible, tests it either in the field or even through role playing.
Going Further | Students share their ideas, then discuss and vote on the solutions. Which is most innovative? Which is most practical? Which do they expect to be most effective, and why? Which one deserves to be tried first?
They pitch their solution, or a grab bag of solutions, by starting a public service announcement campaign, writing letters to the editor of the school paper or giving a presentation to the school administration or PTA.
Alternatively or additionally, to have students undertake a larger issue, they might read up on social entrepreneurship, including Nicholas Kristof’s Times Magazine article “D.I.Y. Foreign-Aid Revolution” and his related blog post, “How to Change the World.” They can also follow the new Fixes blog, which “explores solutions to major social problems” and “examines creative initiatives that can tell us about the difference between success and failure.”
Standards | This lesson is correlated to McREL’s national standards (it can also be aligned to the new Common Core State Standards):
Life Skills: Thinking and Reasoning
1. Understands and applies the basic principles of presenting an argument
2. Understands and applies basic principles of logic and reasoning
3. Effectively uses mental processes that are based on identifying similarities and differences
4. Understands and applies basic principles of hypothesis testing and scientific inquiry
5. Applies basic troubleshooting and problem-solving techniques
6. Applies decision-making techniques
Life Skills: Life Work
6. Makes effective use of basic life skills
Life Skills: Working With Others
1. Contributes to the overall effort of a group
4. Displays effective interpersonal communication skills
Behavioral Studies
1. Understands that group and cultural influences contribute to human development, identity and behavior
2. Understands various meanings of social group, general implications of group membership, and different ways that groups function
3. Understands that interactions among learning, inheritance and physical development affect human behavior
4. Understands conflict, cooperation and interdependence among individuals, groups and institutions
Family/Consumer Sciences
4. Understand how knowledge and skills related to consumer and resources management affect the well-being of individuals, families and society
Economics
1. Understands that scarcity of productive resources requires choices that generate opportunity costs
Language Arts
4. Gathers and uses information for research purposes
8. Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes
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