The Global Search for Education: Wanted: Collaborative Problem Solvers!

By: Christian L ChaCha M Xavier D

 

Global problem solvers are in high demand. Just google Re-Imagine Education and check out the wealth of conferences and events focused on what learning matters to ensure individuals have the skills to think like entrepreneurs and collaborate with people from all backgrounds.

What lessons can researchers learn from the 15 year-old girls who outperformed boys in collaborative problem solving in every country around the world, according to the new study by the OECD? In C.M. Rubin’s interview with Andreas Schleicher, Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills at the OECD, he notes, “Girls show more positive attitudes towards relationships, meaning that they tend to be more interested in others’ opinions and want others to succeed.”

Schleicher also notes that “strong academic skills will not automatically also lead to strong social skills. Part of the answer lies in giving students more ownership over the time, place, path, pace, and interactions of their learning. Another part of the answer can lie in fostering more positive relationships at school and designing learning environments that benefit students’ collaborative problem-solving skills and their attitudes towards collaboration.”

We live in a world where trust and teamwork is more important than ever. OECD Pisa has completed the first ever assessment of collaborative problem solving skills (CPS) to see how students stand in relation to their global peers. In some of the main takeaways from this study, Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills, notes that students who do well in PISA’s reading and math assessments also tend to be strong performers in CPS. Examples are Japan, Korea, Estonia, Finland and Canada, all of whom did well. However, there are countries where students had different results in CPS than you would predict from their performance in science, reading and math. For example, Japanese students do well in the subjects but even better in CPS. Chinese students were just average in CPS despite being strong performers in math and science. Another interesting take away from the study is that girls outperformed boys in every country. “Girls show more positive attitudes towards relationships, meaning that they tend to be more interested in others’ opinions and want others to succeed.” Classroom activities focused on positive student/teacher interactions and presentation work foster problem solving skills. Hence, teachers can help “facilitate a climate that is conducive to collaboration”.

Andreas Schleicher is Director for Education and Skills, and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-General at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris. The first ever assessment of collaborative problem solving skills aims to help countries and economies see where their students stand in relation to their peers in other education systems. Students in 52 countries completed this test in addition to the main OECD PISA 2015 Survey on Science, Mathematics and Reading.

The Esguerra family: Grandma Lolet, with grandkids Jamie, James, Jeremy and Dad Joel Esguerra.

Rovic Joseph Calma Santos- the youngest son of VT/CPRTV’s Jovie Calma and RJ Santos who represented St. Walter School in the “Solo Band Contest” held in St. Francis High School won the “Superior Award with trophy”. Rovic performed out his memory and nailed it with impressive comments from the judge. Congrats Rovic!