Quite often, when teachers present problems that they see as important, they inadvertently fail to consider the children's degree of interest in solving the problem. One effective approach for maximizing the child's intrinsic interest is to involve children in activities in which they can determine their own objectives, that is, activities with several possible goals or which offer several ways of reaching the goals. Making It Possible for Children to Achieve Their Goal Through Their Own Actions. Through acting on objects and observing the effects, young children receive feedback, which helps them adapt their differing perspectives when working cooperatively. Rolling a ball down a ramp to hit a target, for example, provides many opportunities for adapting the actions involved.
Children can vary the speed and direction of the ball, the slope of the ramp, and so forth.
They can discuss why they miss the target and the best way to solve the problem. Seeing To It That the Results of the Child's Actions Are Visible and Immediate. The give and take of sharing perspectives and strategies during cooperative activity will be encouraged by immediate feedback about the results of children's actions. Because the objective of cooperative problem-solving is for children to share perspectives as they pursue goals, it is essential that teachers encourage and suggest rather than give directions. Encourage children to interact with each other.