Purpose Statement
When solving problems, students may tend to limit their
thinking to "either/or". That is, they may think that there are only
two possible solutions to the problem.
Description of Activity
When problems arise in the text where there are two possible
apparent solutions, I ask the class to choose one. The students must physically
move to one side of the class or the other to represent their choice. Each
group takes turns providing reasons for their choice. At any time, students can
"cross over" to the other side, as they are swayed by the arguments
being made.
At the conclusion of this, I ask the students if there are any other
alternative solutions to this problem. Usually, there are none offered.
At this point, I have the students sit down, and brainstorm as many other
solutions to the problem that they can think of, editing out NOTHING. Crazy,
bizzare, implausible, odd, and creative solutions start to be listed.
Eventually, some good ideas begin to emerge.
Students learn that there are almost always more than two options to any
problem.
An example of this, occurs in a short story called "So Much Unfairness of
Things" by C.D.B.Bryan. In the story, a student cheats on a Latin exam. A
fellow student turns him in, and he is expelled. Students debate if he did the
right thing in turning in his friend. "Should he turn him in? or should he
not turn him in?" becomes the two choices the students take. After the
debate, the students realize that he had more choices: for example, he could
have told the student that he saw him cheat and tell him "either you turn
yourself in, or I will." Students are amazed when they realize that they
forget to look for other options.
Materials Needed
The only material needed is a good situation or problem to
be solved, where sudents usually assume one of two possibilities.
Application
The activity teaches a valuable lesson about problem-solving
that stays in the classroom a long time. Students mention this activity
frequently during the semester when other problems arise in the texts.
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