So You've Got a Problem...How are YOU going to solve it?!

Through the discussion that we had on Friday and the readings for this weekend I am really beginning to find the Problem Solving Approach to be very interesting and challenging for students. I like how it helps make students think critically and dig deeper into their brains to find possible answers for a problem. I think that a lot of times students, and even us as future teachers, only see the surface of a problem and its few outcomes. We never really get to see the BIG picture, which is what we should always be looking at!!!

I found the readings to be very insightful and helpful with the clarification of what we spoke about in class on Friday. I especially enjoyed reading chapter 4 in the "Methods of Teaching Agriculture" book. I really like how that book uses case studies to help put what we are learning about into a real life context for us. Since I am a visual learner I have to see the value of what I am learning and I have to be able to see how I will apply this to real life which is why I enjoy reading the chapters in this book. I liked how the book breaks the Problem Solving Approach down into the 6 steps which are:

1. Interest Approach
2. Objectives to be achieved
3. Problems to be solved--questions to be answered
4. Problem solution
5. Testing solutions through application
6. Evaluation of solutions

The chapter then went on to further break down some of the techniques that could be used to achieve this idea and it also compared it to the 6 steps of the learning process which were:

1. Experiencing a provocative situation
2. Defining the problem
3. Seeking data and information
4. Formulating possible solutions
5. Testing proposed solutions 
6. Evaluating the results

 I also enjoyed the other two readings as well because it helped to answer some of my questions that I thought of after class the other day. They really helped to put things into perspective. I think after reading these readings and finishing the discussion on Monday will really help me tackle the Problem Solving Lab this week!