Developing Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Skills through Challenging Projects

Boys are challenged throughout our program to stretch beyond their comfort zones as they collaboratively solve problems. Working together with their classmates on a specific challenge requires analysis and repeated attempts before a successful solution is found. This is one way that essential critical thinking skills and a spirit of persistence are developed and honed in boys.

As an example, second graders are kicking off the year with an active engineering challenge in our new Innovation Lab that strengthens collaboration skills and promotes persistent and creative problem solving. The project requires our boys to work through the Engineering Design Cycle to build a cardboard structure of their choice: a tower as tall as their (very tall!) teachers, a vehicle mobile enough to transport an object across the room (on wheels along the ground, or airborne, along a zip line), a ball run timer consistent enough that the ball takes exactly 5 seconds to roll from top to bottom, or a cardboard chair sturdy enough to support a classmate.

Prior to choosing what they would build, the boys spent a week working with specialized cardboard carpentry tool kits practicing techniques like using triangular braces to reinforce 90 degree corners, attaching hinges to create flaps that can open and close, and cutting slots to connect planes of cardboard at perpendicular angles.

Their teachers find that the boys, enthused by a challenge that is so much fun and which enables them to use tools and build something with a purpose, are eager to share thoughts. They observe what is working, what might need to be adjusted, and why.

Projects like this put into play our boys' natural curiosity, creativity, and love of purposeful work. The boys also learn to respect materials, the process, and each other's ideas; practice taking risks; and come to view their inevitable "failures" as important learning opportunities that ultimately lead to innovative solutions.

This is the first of many engaging units that lie ahead this year for our boys.

The Wisdom Within - A Matter of Trust

The Teaching Boys Initiative (TBI) is a cornerstone of Saint David’s School’s strategic vision, aimed at developing a robust framework of evidence-based best practices in boys’ education. The initiative’s primary goal is to empower educators with the knowledge, skills, habits, and dispositions of reflective practitioners, enhancing their professional growth and the overall quality of teaching and learning for boys. In TBI's new quarterly blog series, "The Wisdom Within," our faculty share stories that inform, inspire, and encourage reflective practice using evidence-based approaches in teaching and learning for boys. The following inaugural entry, "A Matter of Trust," was written by reflective practitioner and Master Teacher Tom Ryan, who has been inspiring generations of Saint David's boys for more than 53 years. A MATTER OF TRUST …but, I digress. I cannot possibly begin any writing piece, and/or class, without some digression that, as I have said to my s...

Jack Mullin '12 : Reflections on a Mom's Love

The Chapel talk tradition at Saint David's provides faculty and alumni with the opportunity to share with our boys meaningful and inspiring personal stories: their experiences, lessons learned, challenges overcome. The annual Fifth Grade Mother-Son Chapel gathers our fifth-grade boys and their mothers or mother figures for a special shared pre-Mother's Day experience; a Chapel Talk by a young alumnus who reflects upon the role his mother has played in his life. This year, we welcomed former Student Council President Jack Mullin '12. Jack's family has deep roots with school. His older brother Patrick graduated in '08 and his dad, Terry, in 1973. Jack's talk centered on the impact both his alma mater and his mother, Immy, have had on his development into the man he is today. Below are excerpts that I would like to share: "My family's multi-generational lineage is a testament to the incredible sense of community Saint David’s fosters, and I too hope I have...

Strong Values

You can feel it in the air: the indescribable yet readily recognizable excitement of the start of a new school year - in our boys, teachers, families, administrators, and staff. Below, I share excerpts from my opening letter that speak to our 2024-25 school-wide theme, "Strong Values:" "To-morrow I cease to be a puppet, and I become a boy like you and all the other boys."* We teach boys. That’s what we do. And we want our boys to think for themselves. And we want that thinking to be rooted in and guided by “strong values”—our school-wide theme this year, found in the last line of the mission’s second paragraph. In keeping with the school’s classical tradition, these strong values are shaped at Saint David’s by the cardinal and theological virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and courage, along with faith, hope, and charity. To many Western philosophers, possession of these virtues makes a person good, happy, and thriving. Something we want for all of our sons. ...

David O'Halloran, Headmaster - Saint David's School, New York City

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