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Alternate Solutions: 31 Questions to Ask Your Child’s Teacher: Part 14

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This entry is part 14 of 14 in the series 31 Questions

Apollo_13_Mailbox_at_Mission_ControlOn April 11, 1970, NASA launched Apollo 13 which was intended to be the third manned-landing on the moon. Two days into the flight, an oxygen tank exploded which cancelled the lunar landing and almost cost the astronauts their lives: “Houston, we have a problem.”  This story was retold in a 1995 movie with Tom Hanks . There was no precedence for this crisis. No one had forecast such a situation. There was no solution onboard. The engineers at NASA had to create an alternate solution and find a way to essentially fit a square peg into a round hole. They used plastic bags, cardboard, and tape to create what they called the “mailbox” solution.

When the World Trade Center was attacked on 9/11/2001, there were thousands of people who were forced to evacuate the island of Manhattan. Most of them had arrived there that morning by way of transportation that was now unavailable to them. In the interest of security, all the subways, tunnels, and bridges were closed. These people were enveloped in a cloud of dust and debris and were looking for a way off the island. There was no precedence for this crisis.  Many of them ended up at the pier where hundreds of boats came to help with the evacuation. The Boatlift of 9/11 is a wonderful example of how we, as humans, are wired to search for alternate solutions in situations that require such action.

When we are faced with a sudden unexpected crisis in our own lives, we have to become problem solvers. There may have been no precedence established for the solution. There may have been nothing in our lives immediately prior which could have possibly forecast the event. There may be seemingly no solution, but somehow, as humans who are wired that way, we manage to create the best solution we can with the information available to us at the time.

Ask your child’s teacher to accept alternate solutions rather than one set way of problem solving. It’s actually a real life skill beyond the classroom.

SP

The post Alternate Solutions: 31 Questions to Ask Your Child’s Teacher: Part 14 appeared first on A Step Ahead Math.


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