Problems-First Learning: A Framework for Engaging Minds and Nurturing Thinkers in Grades 6-12 (a Teacher's Guide to Boosting Student Engagement with t

The educational pattern of lecture, listen, and forget is deeply ingrained in schools. In this user-friendly resource, author Ted McCain offers a compelling alternative that flips lessons on their heads: the problems-first instructional method. Using this method, you will fully engage students by first introducing a problem and then empowering learners to solve it using creativity, innovation, collaboration, and other essential skills.

Use this resource to help students achieve higher levels of thinking:

• Identify the need for instructional change in the current educational system.
• Consider the transferable skills students need for solving problems in the workplace and in life outside the classroom.
• Study the benefits of a problems-first teaching style.
• Learn to implement problems-first methods into existing classrooms.
• Understand how this method teaches seven essential 21st century skills highly desired in the modern workforce.
• Discover how to introduce role-play into the classroom and broaden lessons to encompass whole-mind learning and boost student engagement.

Contents:
Acknowledgments
Table of Contents
About the Author
Foreword
Introduction

Part One: Understanding New Needs and a New Approach for a Digital Generation
Chapter 1: The New Needs of a Changing Generation
Chapter 2: The Thinking and Processing Skills Students Need for the Future
Chapter 3: The Key to a New Approach

Part Two: Learning How to Create Problems-First Projects
Chapter 4: Envision a New Role for the Teacher
Chapter 5: Ensure That Problems Are First and Teaching Is Second
Chapter 6: Establish a Real-World Link Using Role-Play
Chapter 7: Equip Students With the Four Ds of Problem Solving
Chapter 8: Expand Your View of the Curriculum
Chapter 9: Elevate the Students' Level of Thought
Chapter 10: Educate the Whole Mind
Chapter 11: Evaluate Holistically
Chapter 12: Ease Yourself Out of the Picture

Part Three: Making the Shift to Problems-First Teaching
Chapter 13: Pointers for Shifting to a Problems-First Approach
Chapter 14: Examples of Problems-First Lesson Plans
References and Resources
Index

Ted McCain, first and foremost, is an educator who has taught high school students at Maple Ridge Secondary School, British Columbia, Canada, for over thirty years. Although he has had several opportunities to take other jobs, both inside education and in the private sector, he has felt his primary calling is to prepare teenagers for success as they move into adult life. He is the coordinator of Digital Arts Academy for the Maple Ridge School District in Vancouver, British Columbia, and has taught computer networking, graphic design, and desktop publishing for Okanagan University.

In 1997, Ted received the Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence. Ted received this prestigious Canadian national award for his work in developing a real-world technology curriculum for grade 11 and grade 12 students that prepares them for postgraduation employment in website design and computer networking. The Prime Minister's Award for Teaching Excellence recognized Ted's work in creating his innovative problems-first teaching strategy, his "4D" approach to solving problems, his unique use of role-playing in the classroom, and his idea of progressive withdrawal as a way to foster independence in his students. Ted wrote or cowrote eleven books on the future, effective teaching strategies, educational technology, and graphic design.

Prior to entering the teaching profession, Ted worked for several years in the computer industry as a programmer, salesperson, and consultant. In addition to his work as a teacher, Ted has also consulted with school districts and businesses since the 1980s on effective teaching for the digital generation and the implementation of instructional technology. His clients have included Apple, Microsoft, Aldus, and Toyota, as well as many school districts and educational associations.

To book Ted McCain for professional development, contact pd@SolutionTree.com.