Problem
Lisa Teaches Four-Year-Olds in a public school pre- kindergarten. Lisa works hard to promote and support the creativity of the children in her class. Her curriculum features activities to encourage divergent thinking. She includes time for children to explore and experiment and provides open-ended materials in learning centers to support imagination. Because her children are accustomed to pretending with open-ended materials, they frequently bring materials from other centers to the dramatic play center to use as props: paper from the art center, counters from the math center, and small blocks from the construction center. Lisa allows, even encourages, this creative use of materials across centers, as long as the children return the materials. during clean-up. During the last few days, however, this borrowing of materials between centers has led to conflicts among the children. Builders in the block center have been upset when children from the dramatic play center wanted to borrow blocks. Loud voices, angry words, and tears have resulted as the children argued over who could use the blocks. Lisa is concerned and wondering how she can avoid conflict while still encouraging the use of open-ended materials across learning centers. How could Lisa use this conflict as an opportunity to engage her children in creative problem- solving? What language might Lisa use to present the problem to the children? What open-ended questions might she ask the children?