Digital Blog Post C Chapters 7 & 8

Steps in solving problems chapter 7

Going to school and becoming a teacher, I believe that taking steps to learn a subject matter is very important. Breaking the steps down can be crucial to understand the problem. In order to start off you must understand the question asking questions until you fully know what the question is asking. When teaching, I believe this is a valuable asset to teach students to be aware of the questions they must ask. Students tend to have problems asking questions because they fear that their question is not important. We have to let them know this is not true.

Second in the solving steps is using problem solving strategies such as start with the basics, breaking the problem down and using computational approaches. For example as math problems increase in advancement to solve there are a few steps to consider when solving them such as solving points on a graph to find the slope intercept form.

Finally when students set of their strategies on how to proceed and answer the problem, they can test the answer by checking their results a second time to see if they come up with the same answer. This has been very useful in my past and I believe this is a great lesson to pass on to students adding in approaches they use calculators or other computer programs to assist in answering the problems. 

Standard Software Programs

As we think about all the computer programs and software we are running do we think about what was and what will be in the future? Everyday more and more programs are being created to allow for shorter time to do things and with the advancements how much are we depending on the programs and what happens if they fail? Today we are bringing students up to use Microsoft word to write projects and the computer is letting the writer know when they misspell a word rather than the writer re-read the piece and check for their errors. Even now I am using Word on my surface 2 tablet which I believe is necessary to complete my assignments. However since I grew up before all the technology became so advanced, I know the basics. As we bring technology into the classroom, I believe students still need to be able to do their assignments as if they had no technology in the event computers are unavailable. Otherwise, I feel that the standard software we normally receive when we buy a computer is necessary and a valuable asset to the student.

Resources

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park (2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.