Adventures In Real Problem Solving

Educational title for gifted and advanced learners.

From straightforward internet access to elaborate makerspaces, libraries have taken center stage when it comes to providing free access to technology to those who visit their physical spaces. But how about people who don’t walk into a library? How do we ensure those members of the community are also being reached by technology programming? It’s time to launch an adventure! Berman, named an ALA Emerging Leader and Library Journal Mover & Shaker, provides readers with a comprehensive plan for creating and implementing successful technology-based outreach. She also teaches readers design thinking skills that can enable library staff to become creative problem solvers. Sharing the methods and experiences of her team at San José Public Library, Berman’s guide presents numerous real-world case studies, including videomaking in a skate park, e-readers for seniors, popup mobile makerspaces, and simple circuits in middle school, that will inspire readers to move technology beyond the walls of the library;offers dozens of design thinking exercises, such as rapid prototyping, empathy mapping, and logic models, as part of a start-to-finish model for developing a new program concept;discusses the origins of and reasons behind the digital divide, then shares outreach fundamentals and best practices that will help ensure success; andprovides information about ways to connect with the community, perform evaluation, offer STEM programming, and additional resources. This guide will empower libraries to design and prototype technology-based outreach ideas safely, quickly, and with confidence, leading to better service for all members of the community.

How can we break the cycle of frustrated students who "drop out of math" because the procedures just don't make sense to them? Or who memorize the procedures for the test but don't really understand the mathematics? Max Ray-Riek and his colleagues at the Math Forum @ Drexel University say "problem solved," by offering their collective wisdom about how students become proficient problem solvers, through the lens of the CCSS for Mathematical Practices. They unpack the process of problem solving in fresh new ways and turn the Practices into activities that teachers can use to foster habits of mind required by the Common Core: communicating ideas and listening to the reflections of others estimating and reasoning to see the "big picture" of a problem organizing information to promote problem solving using modeling and representations to visualize abstract concepts reflecting on, revising, justifying, and extending the work. Powerful Problem Solving shows what's possible when students become active doers rather than passive consumers of mathematics. Max argues that the process of sense-making truly begins when we create questioning, curious classrooms full of students' own thoughts and ideas. By asking "What do you notice? What do you wonder?" we give students opportunities to see problems in big-picture ways, and discover multiple strategies for tackling a problem. Self-confidence, reflective skills, and engagement soar, and students discover that the goal is not to be "over and done," but to realize the many different ways to approach problems. Read a sample chapter.

Annotation These reproducible activities develop creative thinking, offer new approaches to problem solving, and develop innovative approaches to problems that aren't responding to traditional methods. A great resource for new ideas and ongoing needs.

Here are 51 interesting, true-to-life situations to motivate teenagers to apply math skills for solving everyday problems. For example, in the story "The Challenge" students use decimals and averages as they compare rival football teams' statistics. In "An Interesting Loan", they get practical experience working with money as they help Mike figure out how to pay for a new dirt bike. Each reproducible story is followed by three increasingly difficult groups of problems that focus on the same math topic, making it easy for students of all ability levels to develop the math skills being stressed in the lesson.