Teaching is about more than just conveying information to your students. You want them to be engaged and invested in the subject of your lesson, but keeping students engaged in the classroom is tough for any teacher at any level. That’s why you need something in your lesson that can get students to feel invested in what’s happening in their history, English, or math books beyond the facts behind the content. A great way to motivate students in your lesson is by presenting them with a problematic situation that gets them thinking about your content and finding solutions to problems in your text.

Now I know what you’re thinking, something called a “problematic situation” must be… problematic, and that’s the last thing I want in my classroom. But, it’s not what you think. Problematic situations are used to get students thinking critically about your lesson by presenting them with a problem or perspective they are going to be constantly returning to throughout the lesson or unit. You give them this problem with nothing but their prior knowledge and maybe some background information at the start of class, and they work together in groups to find solutions to the problem.

Problematic situations is a pre-reading strategy that keeps informed instruction at the center of the lesson. Research shows that students perform significantly higher in reading comprehension and awareness when presented with what they are going to learn before they actually learn it (Scott & Jacobs 1984). When you think about it, it makes sense, doesn’t it? You typically don’t eat something unless you know what’s in the food. Same goes for reading. A student’s reading comprehension and awareness increase drastically when they know exactly what to look for and how it applies to what they are learning in class. Strategies that find creative and fun ways to give students an idea about what they are learning are shown to increase understanding and test scores as well as retention. Problematic situations are just another way to give students a much needed introduction to the content of the day.

How Do Problematic Situations Work?

Preparation

Try to think of about 3-5 big ideas you want students to understand about the reading or discussion. Next, formulate your problem situation based on these ideas. Make your problem as clear and detailed as possible, and plan to ask questions related to your big ideas that have students discussing how they would solve the problem. For example: The year is 1945. You’re a leader of the allied countries against the axis of power. The enemy has been defeated and now you have to plan what comes next. How do you make peace? How do you treat the axis of power? What influences you to make that decision? How will this decision affect the world?

Get them started

Give them another example of a problematic situation that you tackle together. Make it something short that gives them the idea for the activity, but make sure it doesn’t take too long to go over. Make sure you emphasize the use of prior knowledge to solve the problem.

Give them the problem

Group them according to however you see fit. The activity can be done alone or in groups, but students seem the most interested when working with peers. Give them the problem and let them work on it. Tell them to give you as many solutions as possible as this will have them explore multiple possible outcomes to the situation.

Bring them together

Once they have generated enough solutions, aim for as many as possible without interfering too much and have them discuss their solutions as a class. Work together to evaluate all of their solutions and have students explain why they believe their solution is the most viable. The goal is to show students using prior knowledge to predict the outcome.

Let them go

Record the solution the students felt was the most viable. Explain to them that as they read or as they learn, their solutions will change because their understanding of the problem is growing. Have them form and record new solutions as they go.

Have them reflect

Let them compare their first solution to their final solution. What are the similarities and differences? How does this show their understanding changed? If applicable, you could even have them evaluate the solution that came to pass in the real world. What would they have done differently?

What’s the next step?

The next step is modifying it to fit your students and classroom needs. Some modifications I would make in a history course would be having the students evaluate the solution constantly as they proceed through the class, not just the lesson. This involves approaching the activity with more enduring understandings in mind than regular course content, but it could be such a powerful tool in ensuring students understand how the world became what it is today. Using the strategy in this way could incorporate current events in the classroom and how they relate to what they have learned. The possibilities for this strategy are limitless when given the right teacher and the right class.

Paris, Scott G., and Janis E. Jacobs. “The Benefits of Informed Instruction for Children’s Reading Awareness and Comprehension Skills.” Child Development, vol. 55, no. 6, 1984, pp. 2083–2093. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1129781. Accessed 9 Mar. 2021.

About the Author

Michael Gismondi is a Graduate Student enrolled at Saint Vincent College. He obtained his Bachelor’s in History with a minor in Medieval Studies from Saint Vincent, and he is continuing his education in pursuit of his Masters in Curriculum and Instruction as well as his secondary certification in social studies. His goal is to help emerging students study and understand history as it pertains to them and their lives, and help them understand how to apply social studies to the topics around them. He believes that by studying history, students can better explain the world around them through the lives and experiences of the people who came before.