Easy Solutions

This is an interesting video from Dan Meyer, a math teacher from Santa Cruz, CA (It was forwarded to me by a CGHS parent who discovered it being used informally as a resource at their company for "Take Your Children to Work Day" - thank you!).

I've heard discussions about academic and social challenges facing college freshmen, and one of the biggest is a perceived lack of "stick-to-itiveness." Dan's presentation gives a solid argument why this will continue without changes in high school education. 

The application for math and science classes is obvious, however I also like employing his theories to the problem of jumping to solutions-based thinking in leadership challenges on campus. When we have a problem at school, students and adults want a formula where they can plug in established solutions ("the way we've always done it") in order to arrive at an easy solution.  Invariably, we arrive at the creation of a new policy (usually a clarification of an existing policy) precisely because it's an easy solution, and difficult to oppose.  Rarely do those groups ask important questions, sift out non-essential information, or (most frustratingly of all) use their collective or individual intuition about what works and doesn't work.