Keanna Lamont

2-1-17
Teaching Math
Professor Madden

Problem Solving and Social Interactions

Thornton describes in her book her own personal views of the relationship between

problem solving and social interactions. Throughout her book, she argues that unlike classic

theories from psychologists such as Piaget, problem solving is related closely to information

received through different experiences (Thornton, 124). She argues that these skills are malleable

and can be developed upon, rather than relying on natural biological or psychological processes

that a person cannot influence. Although the extent to which we can affect a childs problem

solving skills is still unknown, Thornton stresses the importance for parents and teachers to have

a focus on this while teaching children through demonstrating action. In order to understand how

Thornton argues we can affect these skills, it is first necessary to understand her argument of

how the skills are related to higher cognitive functioning, understand how teachers can use this

research to influence their practice, and how effective this has been implemented, as seen

through given examples and personal experiences.

Thornton defines problem solving as something that produces a change, in either the

childs understanding of a task, the strategy they use to solve a task, or their ability to complete

the task. Thornton describes how this higher cognitive process occurs as the result of social

interaction. She argues that through learning problem solving skills socially, children are able to

learn the assumptions and meanings of their culture, learn how to solve problems through the

help of a more skilled demonstrator, and how a problem is to be further applied to other

situations. All of these ideas are described in Chapter 5 of Children Solving Problems. Thornton
begins by describing how being a good problem solver means understanding what is accepted as

a valid solution to any given problem. She uses the example of Piagets conservation experiment,

where researchers are not looking to know exactly how much water is left in each beaker given

that the beakers may have remaining water drops after the water has been transferred, rather they

are looking for a more basic answer of how much water there appears to be. Depending on ones

culture and belief system, these answers may vary even more so (Thornton, 94). What is a

correct answer depends on what your culture, and what the adults in that culture expect as an

answer. Thornton further develops the benefits of guided participation and effective

scaffolding for children. These ideas represent the social interactions in which children work

closely with a more knowledgeable adult who helps to guide the activity, provide reinforcement,

strong direction and more demonstration. Through this process of learning, the child not only

learns the skill, but learns how to work with a more knowledgeable other to show and

demonstrate the process of learning. This is a valuable life skill and also something that many

adults engage in as well, learning jobs and skills as apprentices from someone who is a master

(Thornton, 102). Finally, Thornton describes the importance of learning through social

interaction as it not only teaches you the kind of skill that is taught, but also, the extent to which

the skills is taught in the context of purposes and meanings the child can understand (Thornton,

104). What she is arguing is that by learning different problem solving skills from others, we also

learn the importance these skills have in our everyday life. She gives the example of the Kpelle

tribesmen, who only learn why what they are doing and classifying is important from the others

in their community. They can understand the goal of the task, therefore the purpose of why it is

important to do it (Thornton 109). Thornton argues all of these reasons for the importance of
teaching children problem solving skills in social situations, then goes on to apply this to how

parents and teachers can better impact their children.

Many of the skills that Thornton discusses can have a direct impact on an elementary

school classroom and how a teacher chooses to engage their students. At one point, Thornton

describes social settings (to learn problem-solving skills) as students working in collaborative

groups together. Giving the example of two wrongs can make a right, she describes how

within groups, each student brings a different idea for how to solve a problem, and together they

are more likely to create a new and efficient strategy (Thornton, 95). If teachers have students

working collaboratively with others, they will be able to learn and develop new skills as they

work together to tackle a problem, and also develop new skills to learn to work effectively with

others. To balance this idea, Thornton also stresses the importance of effective scaffolding by

teachers in certain situations. Children cannot always sort through a problem together, rather

they need effective encouragement, verbal instruction, help choosing materials, help preparing

materials, and demonstration of the skill, something that can only be done by the teacher

(Thornton, 100). Finally, an essential idea Thornton presents for teachers is the idea of

confidence. She argues that in order to have confidence in various different problem-solving

situations, students need to be exposed to a variety of rich experiences to be comfortable with

different situations. She stresses how having the skills and knowledge to effectively solve

problems can be a confidence builder for students, and how important it is for teachers to

encourage this behavior (Thornton, 110-113).

In my own personal experience, I have witnessed the benefits of social problem solving

during math class. When I was in elementary school up until high school, my teachers would

encourage group work and participation with classmates. We would complete worksheets
together, correct one anothers homework, and we were encouraged to check with a friend if

we did not understand something. In elementary school, our desks were arranged as individual

desks placed in groups, to encourage constructive conversation. Even in my math classes in

college, professors would encourage us to work on our homework with a classmate. This system

allows students to possibly learn from a more knowledgeable other in their class. Even if both

students were unsure of the exact solution, they could work together and come up with a new

way to solve the problem. This made math feel more enjoyable and also helped to build my

confidence as I realized that I was not the only one not understanding a concept, and by working

together effectively with my classmates, I could learn and understand more.

As a future teacher, these ideas of learning problem-solving skills through social

interactions is both important and informative. One interesting point Thornton brings up in her

writing is that problem-solving is something fun and interesting to us. Oftentimes, we go out

looking for problems, coming up with new ideas to solve rather than just being content with the

way things already are. As a student for who math was not my favorite subject, I realize how

important effective scaffolding can me and how a good teacher can determine when scaffolding

versus group activities are more important. Most importantly, I think I took away the necessity

for constructive confidence building in students. If students believe they have the ability to work

through any problem, they will be less susceptible to a fixed mindset where they only believe

that they are not good at math and cannot change. These are all ideas I hope to one day

implement in my future classroom.