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Allow Self-Selected Groupings based on Strengths

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Mathematics Social-Emotional Learning ^21st Century Skills MS/HS/College Strategy

Skills

Flexible Thinking

Allow Self-Selected Groupings based on Strengths

If your student needs to strengthen self-awareness

Teach It!

  1. Objective: Students will choose a group based on their preferred strategy for the given problem or content.
  2. Model and Practice: a) Introduce a complex problem to be solved. b) Let students brainstorm the strategies they could use to solve the problem. Options might be graphing, using hands-on materials, diagramming with a visual organizer. c) Have students choose the strategy they want to use and split into that strategy group to solve the problem. d) Each group shares their solution and how they arrived at it. e) Discuss not only the solution but the varied approaches that were used to get to the solution. This develops students' awareness that there are always multiple ways to solve a problem and the importance of identifying what works best for them.

Why It Works (the Science Of Learning)!

Metacognition is critical to problem solving. Metacognition includes not only knowledge about how we learn but also an appreciation of what is required for a given task, and the potential strategies to complete it. Providing students with opportunities to identify and choose strategies as well as interact with students who prefer similar approaches can strengthen their metacognitive thinking.