Home PublicationsL&LIssuesVolume 26 (1998-1999) February (No. 5)

Problem-Solving Software, Equity, and the Allocation of Roles  By Jackie Stokes

Developing problem-solving skills is a desired goal for students in all curriculum areas. One successful strategy for using problem-solving software works well with the limited technology resources of the typical K–6 classroom. Cooperative rotational group work maximizes the use of software and hardware, teaches students to work together, and creates a positive environment in which students can develop problem-solving strategies. Rotational group work with problem-solving software can even be done in a one-computer classroom, especially if that classroom is grouped into learning centers.

The strategies in this article were developed through research with 11-year-old students in an Australian Year 6 classroom (Stokes, 1994), using a piece of interactive fiction titled Pieces of Eight. The ideas, however, can be transferred anywhere that teachers use rotational group work. Current software titles that would provide stimulating and meaningful learning contexts are Logical Journey of the Zoombinis and any of the Carmen Sandiego series (both from Broderbund).

Understanding Group Work

Different ways of working in groups need to be clarified. Students can rotate through activities working individually, a strategy that has more to do with resource sharing than group work training. Current educational trends, however, encourage students to work cooperatively as teams. Within my classroom, I determine which approach is to be used with each activity.

Classroom culture can specify acceptable behaviour for group work. Student awareness of group interactions early in the year can reveal the issues involved. Asking students to reflect on how decisions were made will identify whether groups reached consensus or were dominated by individuals or subgroups. Group checklists are a good way for them to monitor these issues. At the end of the first few sessions of group work, students can complete a checklist by answering questions--Did everybody participate? Did any person dominate? How were disagreements resolved? (Reid, Forrestal, & Cook, 1989). Discussing the different ways that groups overcome conflict shows students successful cooperative strategies. The appointment of a decision maker to monitor that all views are heard before a consensus is reached is one successful strategy. Another is to break suitable tasks into sections so that they can be handled by subgroups.

Monitoring Student Outcomes

Working with computers is often criticized because it is hard to monitor student activity. Students can use problem-oriented software to solve programmed tasks, an approach with intrinsic value. To get the most out of an activity, however, a teacher must consider many factors. Software roles are only partially defined by software designers, so how a particular program is used within the classroom depends on the structures established by the teacher. Different strategies can be used for different class activities. Among the strategies explored in this article are logs, rotational roles, and the analysis of problem-solving skills.

Teacher familiarity with software is often overlooked when we consider curricular computer use. This may seem fundamental, but realise that educational software, particularly at the elementary level, used to be simpler and could be mastered by most teachers in one hour. Today’s programs require that teachers spend more time just investigating different aspects of the software environment. This understanding is necessary before teachers can adequately analyse student interactions or structure meaningful learning tasks. For example, to understand what to do in the first section of Zoombinis, students must listen to the introductory narrative. If the teacher informs students of the importance of this narrative, then student discussion can begin productively, avoiding time lost to trial-and-error and guess-and-click approaches.

Knowing the most successful problem-solving strategies for each situation helps a teacher guide student discussion. Case in point: In the Allergic Cliffs problem in Zoombinis, whenever the cliffs sneeze, the supporting pegs fall out. Some students are so busy watching the Zoombinis that they fail to notice this change or understand its significance. Prompting students who are having trouble solving the problem to watch what happens to the pegs whenever the cliff sneezes can help save time and avoid frustration.

Problem Solving

I have found that students most frequently use trial-and-error in problem solving--and usually do not analyse what else may work once they get the desired result. Teachers who use problem-solving software can help students develop a set of strategies that can be used in any problem-solving situation, from mathematics to logic to computer work. They can also make charts to suggest strategies to students, including breaking a problem into smaller pieces, working backward, visualizing, and searching for patterns and sequences.

In my own classrooms, I’ve used a variety of problem “audit trails” based on Polya’s (1990) “See, Plan, Do, Check” model. I call mine “Understand, Plan, Execute, and Evaluate.” (See the problem-solving reflection sheet.) Over time, I’ve added two subsections to encourage students to transfer skills from one problem situation to another. After the students have defined the problem, they look for similarities with other problem-solving experiences: “I have seen a problem like this before when . . . ” Students then list strategies they might use in this problem situation and order the list according to which strategy they think will be most effective. Having a list enables them to try another strategy if their first choice does not appear to be working; they are less likely to get stuck trying the same strategy or give up in finding a solution to the problem. At the end of the evaluation section, students complete this statement: “In the future, for a problem like this I would . . . ” Figure 1 shows a completed problem-solving reflection sheet.

Logs

Logs not only encourage reflection but also provide the teacher with a record of computer activity. The way in which the logs are recorded will depend on the type of problems encountered in the software and the strategies used to solve them. Most software enables groups to save their work and attempt problem solving at a different level of difficulty. The logs also encourage students to verbalise their successful strategies. This is embedded in some programs, including Zoombinis, which relies on a student to analyse differences in sets and apply a hypothesis for the remainder of each problem. Figure 2 shows a partial log sheet for the first Zoombinis problem.

Logs are best kept in a manila folder. Each term, students are given a new folder with a cover sheet that shows the term’s theme or the software being used. On the inside front cover, the students add any useful information, such as a game vocabulary list, a map (e.g., Pieces of Eight), an ongoing strategy list (e.g., for the Carmen Sandiego series, “If you do not find clues about the spy when you visit a location, return to the previous location and choose another destination”), or a curriculum overview. All students, with the exception of those who do keyboarding, work on large pads of paper at the computer and then use glue sticks to paste their pages into their folders. This enables them to check which strategies they have used before, what roles they had before, and so on.

Allocating Roles

To ensure equal access for groups using computers, classroom procedures must be put into place. One strategy is to use roles within the group. These roles can be rotated each time the group uses the computer. The roles can be developed to fit the activity at the computer. Once relevant roles for the software are determined, students rotate through the roles each time their group uses the computer. I usually use mixed-ability friendship groupings that the students retain all term; these are based on a sociogram that is conducted at the end of the preceding term. For the sociogram, students are asked to pick two people they would like to work with the following term, and one person they do not want to work with. I then map these using red lines for student likes and blue lines for student dislikes. It is then easy to group most of the class. I take extra care when grouping students with special needs to ensure that their learning will be supported.

Badges can be used to denote each student’s role for a session. For example, students working in groups of four or five might use the following roles: log, keys, decider, scribe, and monitor.

The log makes sure everyone records moves, the decisions made, and their outcomes. Keys would be the keyboard operator, while the decider would facilitate consensus decisions.

The scribe leads the group in writing about the solution approach it takes and also records any problem-solving vocabulary that develops. This helps show how students analyse the problem and develop solutions. The vocabulary can be transferred to other problem-solving activities that take place within the classroom. The scribe’s sheets can be collated and displayed each week so that students can compare the strategies taken by different groups. This also helps groups that are weaker at problem-solving see the successful strategies that other groups used. This prevents them from falling too far behind the other groups and thus losing interest in the activities.

The monitor ensures that group members stay within their roles.

In the normal computer group work situation, the keyboard is the major determinant of power. As a strategy, separating the roles of keyboard operator and decision maker has fostered greater discussion among students. By adhering to their roles and deferring to the decision maker, the students provide better justifications for the moves they propose making. This can occur even despite the personalities and academic levels of the different students in the group.

Conclusion

In this article, I have provided strategies for teachers who use or want to use problem-solving software in their classrooms. These include teaching students problem-solving strategies, using written logs, and allocating roles within groups. All of these will help the teacher monitor student outcomes. I also have suggested that much of the support that teachers can give to their students depends on their own knowledge of the software environment.

Jackie Stokes, j.stokes@qut.edu.au

References

Polya, G. (1990). How to solve it: A new aspect of mathematical method. London: Penguin.

Reid, J., Forrestal, P., & Cook, J. (1989). Small group learning in the classroom. Scarborough, WA: Chalkface Press.

Stokes, J. (1994). Problem solving and metacognition with computers. In M. Ryan (Ed.), APITITE ’94: Proceedings of the Asia Pacific Information Technology in Training and Education Conference and Exhibition (pp. 107-113). Brisbane, Queensland, Australia: APITITE.

Resources

Logical Journey of the Zoombinis; $59.95 (school edition); $179.95 (lab pack); site license available; Brøderbund Software, 500 Redwood Blvd., Novato, CA 94947; 800.548.1798; www.broderbund.com/education/programs/zoombinis

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? $29.95 to $34.95; Brøderbund Software, 500 Redwood Blvd., Novato, CA 94947; 1.800.548.1798 (toll-free); www.broderbund.com/store/

Pieces of Eight; single user: $30.00; site licence: $45.00; additional platform disk: $10.00; additional teacher’s guide: code CS005 $10.00; Department of Education Queensland, Materials Development Group; http://curriculum.qed.qld.gov.au/oasc/index.html

  Figure 1 | Figure 2 | Copy-Me Page | Supplement

Problem-Solving Reflection Sheet

Understand

For this problem I have been asked to . . .

Get 16 Zoombinis onto the boat.

I have seen a problem like this before when . . .

Lots of software like Just Grandma and Me where you click and see what happens

Plan

Strategies I could use are . . .

List the areas on the screen which are likely to be important.

Prioritise which to try first.

Record what happens.

Execute

What I did and what happened . . .

We clicked on the boat because the boat is important for getting the Zoombinis off the island but nothing happened.

We clicked on the cave because we thought that that was where they were probably hiding but we only heard them and couldn't see them.

We clicked on the dice and a green arrow appeared and when we clicked on it the Zoombini came out of the cave. We kept doing this but it only worked one more time until we changed something about the Zoombini. We did this by clicking the red hair.

Evaluate

The best way of working was when I . . .

We each listened to the others' suggestions and then made our decisions. Sally noticed the green arrow first.

In the future, for problems like this I would . . .

Make a list and look at the screen first rather than just clicking because if you just click you don't know why things happened.

Figure 1.  

Article | Figure 1 | Figure 2 | Copy-Me Page | Supplement

Figure 2. Problem-solving log for Logical Journey of the Zoombinis.

Problem-Solving Reflection Sheet

Understand

For this problem I have been asked to . . .

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

I have seen a problem like this before when . . .

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Plan

Strategies I could use are . . .

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Execute

What I did and what happened . . .

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Evaluate

The best way of working was when I . . .

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

In the future, for problems like this I would . . .

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

Article | Figure 1 | Figure 2 | Copy-Me Page| Supplement

Problem-Solving Software,
Equity, and the Allocation of Roles

By Jackie Stokes

	Logical Journey of the Zoombinis www.broderbund.com/education/programs/zoombinis
	Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? www.broderbund.com/store/
	Pieces of Eight http://curriculum.qed.qld.gov.au/oasc/index.html

Jackie Stokes, j.stokes@qut.edu.au

Copyright © 1999, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.