Developing Problem Solving Skills Amongst Daycare Children

It was very interesting to learn that children are naturally curious creatures and will capitalise on any opportunity to expand their knowledge and enhance their skill sets. They enjoy being in an environment where they are able to challenge their own problem skills - attempting to solve problems presented to them by learning from past mistakes and building upon past successes. Daycare teachers should take advantage of this trait and cultivate their motivation to explore, succeed, understand (Piaget, 1978) and harness knowledge.

Role of A Daycare Teacher
We know that a child enjoys solving problems as part of his learning but how does a daycare teacher take advantage of that fascination to motivate and enrich a child’s learning?

By providing a very complex problem in the hope that the child will reach a higher level of learning is definitely not realistic. It’ll not only frustrate the child, the child will deem learning as an impossible task and dread it rather than as a challenge to be overcome.

A daycare teacher can aid the child to maximise a problem solving situation by providing the child with the appropriate support or scaffolds. The daycare teacher should aim to provide the child with interesting and challenging but age appropriate problems for the child to solve. The problem should generate interest in the child about the activity whilst at the same time, maintaining the element of challenge in the task.

The daycare teacher should also be prepared to manage a child’s frustration or emotion which he may exhibit in trying to complete the task. To aid the child, the daycare teacher can try to simplify the tasks required and/or encourage him to explore the “ideal” path / process towards solving the problem.

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