Problem Solving Tasks

More recently, teachers have come to understand that becoming mathematically literate is also a complex problem-solving activity that increases in power and flexibility when practiced more often.A problem in mathematics is any situation that must be resolved using mathematical tools but for which there is no immediately obvious strategy.

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Through these social interactions, students feel that they can take risks, try new strategies, and give and receive feedback.

They learn cooperatively as they share a range of points of view or discuss ways of solving a problem.

By the time young children enter school they are already well along the pathway to becoming problem solvers.

From birth, children are learning how to learn: they respond to their environment and the reactions of others.

The teacher’s role is to construct problems and present situations that provide a forum in which problem-solving can occur.

Our students live in an information and technology-based society where they need to be able to think critically about complex issues, and “analyze and think logically about new situations, devise unspecified solution procedures, and communicate their solution clearly and convincingly to others” (Baroody, 1998).

Teachers who get this right create resilient problem solvers who know that with perseverance they can succeed.

Problems need to be within the students’ “Zone of Proximal Development” (Vygotsky 1968).

Problem-solving in mathematics supports the development of: Problem-solving should underlie all aspects of mathematics teaching in order to give students the experience of the power of mathematics in the world around them.

This method allows students to see problem-solving as a vehicle to construct, evaluate, and refine their theories about mathematics and the theories of others.