Solving An Authentic Classroom Problem: The Desk Arrangement

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What is more authentic to a student than solving an actual daily problem? And what excites students more than having ownership over the classroom seating? Here’s an authentic problem-solving unit that ties in public speaking, group work, and classroom ownership.

My Proposal

  • Me: “Students, did you know that when a business has a problem, they often pay other businesses to solve it for them?”
  • Class (barely listening): “…”
  • Me: “Well, we have a problem here in class. (student interest spikes) Some people can’t see, others are crammed in a corner. I simply have not done a perfect job setting up our desks.”
  • Class (now bursting with enthusiasm): “No you haven’t!”
  • Me: “Since you are the experts and have to sit in these desks every day, I’m going to let you solve this problem in the same way a business solves their problems.”

I’d give them the following requirements:

  1. Everyone needs to be able to easily see the front of the room without craning their necks.
  2. We need enough space to walk through the aisles and around the room.
  3. I’d also give a few off-limits areas (near my desk, near the door, whatever you’d like).

Gathering The Measurements

  1. Put students into groups (I love trios). Ask them to identify the measurements we’ll need in order to make a new seating plan for the classroom. We’d get a big list of what we need.
  2. Put one student in the class in charge of gathering each measurement and reporting back – and perhaps one person in charge of double-checking them!
  3. Post all of these measurements publicly so everyone can access the information.

The Planning

  1. The groups will now each come up with a plan for how to arrange the desks and chairs to meet our requirements.
  2. Each group creates an exact scale diagram (we use graph paper) of their plan (rough sketches will not do!).
  3. After the scale diagram is complete, students must check with me (to ensure accuracy and because scale drawings are part of our math curriculum).
  4. (Optional) Students can create models using whatever materials you choose. Some of my classes loved using [Google’s free program SketchUp]. Naturally, this will take more time, so adjust as you see fit.

Presentations

  1. Groups must write a proposal to present to the class (see steps below). Groups must have their proposals in written form first so I can check them over.
  2. All groups present their proposals and field questions from the class. This may take a couple of days, depending on how you want to do it.
  3. All students vote on their favorite solution. After counting up the votes, announce the winner.

Implementation and Evaluation

  1. Now implement the solution. I did this at lunch. Whoever wanted to help could stop in and shove some furniture around. (Note: You will choose where individual students sit, they don’t need that much ownership!). I always displayed a sign in my room explaining the process my students went through and giving credit to the designers. Visitors loved reading this information.
  2. At the end of the week/month/etc, have students evaluate the solution. This is my favorite part because there are bound to be some unforeseen problems (there’s a reason none of my own solutions worked well – the darn room was too small for 35 kids!). Now you can discuss the point of view of someone engaged in a solution versus someone complaining about a problem.
  3. Revise the solution based on student feedback and re-implement. Discuss kaizen, the art of constant improvements.
  4. After a couple of months, repeat. Create new trios and re-do the whole process.

But but but…

Perhaps you don’t teach a traditional classroom with the same kids all day. I’m sure you still have a problem that you don’t want to deal with that your students would love to tackle. You could always push this up a level too and take on a larger, school-sized problem. My kids wanted to clean all of the teather ball poles at one point!

Outline For A Proposal

Students’ proposals should follow these steps when they present.

  1. Hook: Get the audience interested.
  2. Problem: Show that you understand the client’s problem. What is the problem? Why is it a problem?
  3. Solution: Explain how you will solve the client’s problem.
  4. Evaluation: Explain how we will test to see if the solution has actually worked.
  5. Opportunity to field questions: Q&A session with the client

This is a great activity to start the year off with and you may want to repeat it after winter and spring breaks.

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