My Wicked Problem Project

Throughout one of my courses through Michigan State University, I have learned about the importance of asking questions. We were challenged to brainstorm several questions related to our classrooms (which we called a quick-fire) and find which topic we were most curious about to look into and conduct research on. After creating a list of many questions, I picked one key question: How can we push beyond students’ existing beliefs to open their minds to new ideas?

This became my main question for my project. I am a middle school social studies teacher, and the idea of empathy and open-mindedness kept sticking out to me. Within the social studies realm, students are often presented with new ideas and some struggle with this. Some of my middle schoolers have also struggled with students who are different from themselves. I wanted to look into how we can encourage students to be open to these new ideas and different cultures. To begin this project, I conducted my own research by creating a survey for K-12 teachers. I was curious about their own experiences and wanted to see if other teachers saw similar things as me. 18 teachers completed my survey, and they gave some interesting insight into this topic.

From there, I found outside research about these topics. I found various sources describing conflict in schools and solutions to these situations. Using the information from these sources as well as the information I received from my survey, I created a Thinglink to present my research and thoughts. This Thinglink board summarizes the steps of my project, as well as describing my research and a solution to this problem.

Please follow this link to explore my wicked problem: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/1949983247718941349

On the Thinglink, follow the arrows to read about my project in order. The correct buttons will also be highlighted, so you will know which one to click next.

References:

Godeano-Barr, S., Reifen-Tagar, M., Tarrasch, R. et al. (2024). The Impact of Teachers’ Contemplative Training on Classroom Discussions of Controversial Issues—a Cluster-Randomized Active-Control Trial. Mindfulness 15, 2355–2371.

Hollombe, S., Yablon, Y. B., & Iluz, S. (2024). Navigating Conflict in the Multicultural Classroom: The Use of Simulation-Based Learning for Peace Education in Teacher Training. Zeitschrift Für Pädagogik Und Theologie, 76(3), 253–264. https://doi-org.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/10.1515/zpt-2024-2029

[Photograph of whiteboard and people’s hands]. (n.d.). https://huddleiq.com/teaching-your-employees-the-ultimate-brainstorm/

Vailliencourt, E. (2025, Mar. 2). 812 Survey Video. [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/dCZ9JqxgMZk