Problem solving
Giving your child the skills to approach and tackle challenges is critical for them to be able to thrive in their future jobs.
Problem solving is the ability to face a problem head on and apply your skills and knowledge to overcome it. This requires skills like critical thinking, flexibility and resilience.
| Resource | Audience | Platform | About | Skills |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Little big planet | High school | PlayStation game for teens | Kids can play in the interactive world, solving problems to help Sackboy through his adventures. |
Problem solving
Design and develop |
| All ages | Website | Pinterest hosts a variety of ideas for strategies and hands on activities to help build critical thinking and problem solving in kids. | Problem solving | |
| Minecraft | Primary school | PC or game console | Minecraft is a video game where kids create and play in fictional worlds made up of three-dimensional blocks. It can be played on computers, select consoles, smartphone or tablets. |
Problem solving Connect Design and develop |
| Civilisation | High school | PC game | Players lead their civilizations in the role of a famous civilization leader, navigating their units through the in-game world. Players perform various activities, such as building a city or constructing a mine, which will boost various aspects of the civilization. As players explore the world, they will come into contact with other civilisations that they will need to battle or collaborate with. |
Problem solving Connect |
| Settlers of Catan | Late primary to high school | Board game | Players challenges each other to dominate the island/s of Catan. As a multi-faceted board game that requires analytical and systems thinking skills, time spent learning to play Settlers of Catan is worthwhile for exploring concepts of trade, negotiation, and probability, and subsequent play sessions allow for deeper engagement, reflection, and potential mining of educational value. |
Problem solving Connect |
"Health care professionals, carers and aides, and business, human resources and marketing professionals are projected to see some of the largest employment gains in Australia in the short term – through to 2021viii. Each of these jobs involves complex situations and requires creative problem solving skills. They also require high levels of contact with clients."
- "The Future of Work", 2016
"Figure 3. Projected employment growth from 2015 to 2020, occupation share as proportion of new jobsvii" as per page 8 of the future of work report.
Source: Australian Jobs 2016 (DEEWR)
