My inquiry questions I’m going to be exploring is “How does a young child’s problem-solving skills adapt when given different activities?”
I decided to explore this inquiry question because I’m very curious how children process information and what they will be able to do with it. Children think differently than adults and teens; therefore, I thought it would be very interesting to observe and do my research on how they face new challenges.
Evidence
The Role of Problem-Solving Activities in Early Childhood Development – Jan Peterson Blog
This article talks about how problem-solving activities play a crucial role in early childhood development by helping children adapt their skills in various ways. Enhancing cognitive problem-solving skills, letting children to ease into their thinking when things don’t go as planned like the activities building blocks or puzzles. Supporting social and emotional growth, teaching children to handle their emotions better like frustration and work with others through group activities and role-playing. Different activities, such as strategy games, puzzles, and role-playing, give the opportunities for children to practice problem-solving in multiple different ways like creative, logical, and social styles. Open-ended questions and creating a safe environment for trial and error helps children develop children’s problem-solving abilities.
The Development of Problem Solving in Young Children: A Critical Cognitive Skill | Annual Reviews
Children’s problem-solving skills adapt based on the activities they engage in. For example, when infants use a spoon improving their grip since they rely on their dominant hand, noticing patterns in how they hold it. 12 month olds, can adapt their strategy quicker and better than younger ones. Children also struggle to transfer skills learned in one context to another. For example, toddlers who can use a spoon can have a hard time applying the same methods to other activities like using a pencil. Verbal cues or prompts to visualize a solution, helps children adapt their strategies. This shows that children may struggle with generalizing problem-solving skills, supporting them and practice allows them to improve.
Story time with a twist – Literacy
We will choose a simple and colorful picture book then at first, I will read it to her. After reading, I will ask my buddy to help retell the story like discussing her favorite part. Together, we will make up a new story, changing details like the characters or setting.
Supplies: Colorful simple book.
This activity will help my buddy practice sequencing, identifying problems in the story, and finding solutions, when we reimagine it. She will be solving the problem of how to adapt and change the narrative creatively.
Count the Animals – Numeracy
- Will chose animal figurines, such as farm animals, jungle animals, etc.
- The buddy will group the animals by type, color, or size.
- My buddy will count how many animals are in each group.
- Then I will ask her a variety of different question like, “If we add two more giraffes to the jungle group, how many giraffes will there be?”
Supplies: Small toy animals or animal figurines
This numeracy activity will help my buddy approach problems by categorizing, counting, and applying addition or subtraction.
Paper plate animal masks- Craft
- First my buddy will decide on an animal, like a lion, cat, or bear, for the mask design.
- We will cut holes for the eyes together
- Then she will decorate the mask: Using markers and crayon she will decorate the mask to look like the animal she chose
- She will wear the mask and pretend to be the animal with her imagination.
Supplies: Paper plates, Crayons, markers, Scissors
This craft makes problem-solving key in thinking about how to design the mask. The activity encourages spatial awareness, planning, and adjusting her approach if things don’t go as expected.
Reflection #1
My Buddy’s name is Errol she is a very energetic and outgoing girl. From my very first visit with her I learned right away her love for animals, herself having multiple dogs. She’s a very positive child who loves to express her love for her family especially her older sister. She is great at reading; she demonstrated this multiple times to me by always picking more complex books and always trying her best to read without my help.
For our very first activity we created a heart and a love jar where she expressed all her favorite things. She colored in very neatly and barely needed any help with spelling the words of what she liked. Finally, she cut the heart and love jar all by herself.
Errol was very excited for this activity she was eager to share with us on all the things she loved in the world. I’ve noticed that she loves to experiment with art, so the coloring part was definitely her favorite. Even though she was very energetic and exited she listened and followed all the instructions with a great sense of focus. From the beginning I realized Errol is someone who wants to be independent and doesn’t love the idea of receiving help. Therefore, she tried to do everything by herself which I found super cute! However, there were some words she had trouble spelling which she needed my help for, but she didn’t want to ask for it. I noticed that and just gave her some hints on breaking down the words for letting her to figure it out all by herself with my help.
Errol’s approach to problem-solving is both independent and self-driven. Errol’s reluctance to ask for help but willingness to take hints shows a developmental stage where she is learning how to self-correct. This shows me that it was sort of a trial-and-error approach. She tries then encounters difficulty with spelling and uses hints to help her without directly asking for the solution.
Overall, Errol’s approach to this activity tells me how many children can adapt their problem-solving skills by practicing tasks that push their independence while also engaging their critical thinking.
Reflection #2
In our first activity, “sprinkle kindness,” we made a donut craft and wrote friendly sentiments on the sprinkles in honor of Pink Shirt Day. The second thing we did with Errol was creating “thankful bracelets.” We discussed reasons for our gratitude to one another throughout these crafts. For instance, Errol expressed how thankful she was to me and Elena (my partner) for reading her favorite books together. However, I noticed that Errol appeared uninterested in finishing the writing portion of the “sprinkle kindness” activity and was not overly excited about it. Her body language was very close, she was turning away, and she tried to run off once. Her expressions were frustrated and overall, she became very quiet, quite the opposite of her bright personality. On the other hand, she was overjoyed during the thankful bracelet’s activity, she had a bright smile and was very energetic. Aswell, she was very talkative that day, there was a lot of laughter coming from her I remember.
Errol needed a little bit of help during the “sprinkle kindness” activity to motivate her to complete the writing portion, as well as helping her spell all the words correctly. While she was trying to spell the words correctly, I didn’t give her the answer. I helped her figure it out on her own by emphasizing each letter while saying the word which really helped. Then during the “thankful bracelets” activity she didn’t require any help at all since she is better with hands on creatively artistic activities. Errol is very independent and doesn’t enjoy recieving help so we just let her cut everything out herself even though she has some trouble doing it sometimes. I encourage her to think of a different approach she could have, for example trying to fold the paper for some spots to cute be more easily reachable.
The techniques that worked great were when I helped Errol with spelling by breaking down words and emphasizing each letter. This helped her solve the problem independently while building her skills. During the “Thankful Bracelets” activity, I offered praise and suggestions. It helped keep her confident and engaged in the activity. However, the motivation technique wasn’t working as well in the writing portion of the “Sprinkle Kindness” activity, showing frustration and distraction since she wasn’t very interested in it. However, I did I reminded her of the fun parts of the project when she seemed distracted. Also, letting her choose words and cutting techniques kept her involved.
Relating back to my question “How does a young child’s problem-solving skills adapt when given different activities?” For example, in the “Sprinkle Kindness” activity, Errol needed help with spelling. I guided her by breaking the words down and helping her figure it out on her own, which made her think more independently. This showed how she adapted her problem-solving skills with a bit of support. In contrast, with the “Thankful Bracelets” activity, Errol worked more with her hands and didn’t need much help. She solved problems on her own, like figuring out how to cut the paper. This showed how she approaches creative tasks differently, using her hands-on skills.
Overall, during our visits Errol’s level of engagement varied on the task like when she was frustrated with the writing part but joyful and energetic during the bracelet activity. These observations show how different activities can impact a child’s problem-solving abilities. I’m looking forward to doing more activities with Errol and getting to know her more!