Problem solving

‘[The Sacúdete strategy] shows to others what the future of school could look like when we put learners at the centre and make the "extracurricular" the curriculum. That is the lesson that other countries can learn from.’ In his new Teacher column, Andreas Schleicher shares details of a successful program in Colombia that sees educators work as mentors and coaches.

Twenty Things to Do with a Computer Forward 50, edited by Dr Gary Stager, celebrates the vision of Cynthia Solomon and Seymour Papert in their seminal 1971 paper. In this exclusive extract, Martin Levins shares ‘Some Modern Things to Do with a Computer’, with examples from Australian schools.

Algorithms are a key component of computational thinking, and the foundations for developing these skills starts in the early years. What are some of the day-to-day ‘unplugged activities’ that offer teachers easy opportunities for emphasising and building these skills?

A blob trying to break into the Underworld, a scientist jumping through size-altering portals, and a man who wakes up dazed and confused in a scrapyard – these are some of the protagonists from winning games in this year’s Australian STEM Video Game Challenge.

Who was the Greatest of All Time (GOAT) of women’s tennis in 2018? Teams participating in this year’s International Mathematical Modeling Challenge (IM2C) were tasked with developing and applying a model to determine just that.

In this Teaching Methods episode, we speak to education consultant Michael Minas about a study he conducted to measure primary school students’ attitudes towards completing challenging problem solving tasks in maths. Michael shares details of the lesson structure he utilised, and why students responded to it so positively.

Registrations are now open for this year’s Australian STEM Video Game Challenge. Students are encouraged to design creative, engaging and imaginative video games incorporating the 2021 theme, ‘scale’.

Considerable progress has been made in defining 21st Century skills, but curriculum implementation is the next hurdle. That was one of the messages to come out of the first webinar revisiting the ‘big five’ education challenges facing Australian schools.

Proficiency in critical and creative thinking, collaboration and problem solving helps students succeed in their learning, but these kinds of skills are also highly valued by employers.

The International Mathematical Modeling Challenge asks students to work collaboratively on a mathematical task related to the real world. Here, Ross Turner, who leads Australia’s involvement in the challenge, describes this year’s task.