Objectives: Students should be able to define the concepts

of “problem” and “problem solving” and discuss the

teaching of Mathematics through problem solving.
What, in your opinion is a Mathematical
problem?
 A (Mathematical) problem is a task for which:
1. The person confronting it wants or needs to
find a solution.
2. The person has no readily available
procedure for finding the solution.
3. The person must make an attempt to find a
solution.
 First we should clarify what we mean by “problem
solving.” According to NCTM, “Problem solving
means engaging in a task for which the solution
is not known in advance.”
 A task does not have to be a word problem to
qualify as a problem — it could be an equation or
calculation that students have not previously
learned to solve.
 Also, the same task can be a problem or not,
depending on when it is given. Early in the year,
before students learn a particular skill, the task
could be a problem; later, it becomes an
exercise, because now they know how to solve it.
 General overview:
Historically, problem solving was taught
directly in Mathematics, but the Modern trend
is to teach Mathematics through problem-
solving (Lester 1994; Olkin and Schoenfeld,
1994).
 Based on Polya’s heuristics:
 Understand the problem,
 devise a strategy,
 implement the strategy,
 reflect on your results.
(Understand, Plan, Try It, and Look Back).
Understand
Read and re-read the problem carefully to find all
the clues and determine what the question is
asking you to find.
◦ Ask yourself if you've seen a problem similar to this one
before. If so, what is similar about it?
◦ What facts are you given?

Plan
Once you understand the question and the clues,
it's time to use your previous experience with
similar problems to look for strategies and tools
to answer the question.
Try It (Implement our plan)
After deciding on a plan, you should try it and
see what answer you come up with.

Look Back
Once you've tried it and found an answer, go
back to the problem and see if you've really
answered the question. Does your solution
make sense w.r.t the problem?
 One side of a rectangle is three centimeters
longer than the other side if the area of the
rectangle is 40 square centimeters. Find the
length of the sides.
 Step 1Understand the problem
 Write down all the information given.
 Rectangle, Area =40 square cm , if one side is x ,
then other one is x+3
 What is being asked?
 Find the length of the sides or x?
 What do you know about the problem?
 I know that area of rectangle = length x breadth
 How can I solve this problem? Which
mathematical , symbols , operations do I need?
 If one side is 𝑥 then I have to add ( longer means
“plus” or extra)
 Area of rectangle = length x breadth
 Also area = 40 square centimeters meaning
 length x breadth =40
 𝑥 × (𝑥+3) =40
 𝑥 2 + 3𝑥 =40 (Looks like quadratic Equation)
 Use Factorization, formula or completing the
square
 It means put your plan into action . Do it !!
 Try to solve the problem.

 𝑥 + 3𝑥 =40
2

 𝑥 + 3𝑥 -40 =0 (Factorize)
2

 (𝑥 + 8)(𝑥 − 5) =0
 𝑥 = − 8 𝑜𝑟 𝑥 = 5
 𝑂𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑥 = 5 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡. 𝑊ℎ𝑦?
 Ask yourself if your answer in step 3 make sense.
Do checking if the answer is correct, it means go
back to the problem and see if its working.
 We found two answers 𝑥 = − 8 𝑜𝑟 𝑥 = 5 but
o𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑥 = 5 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡. 𝑊ℎ𝑦? It makes sense
 Check if one side is 5 then the other side is
5+3=8 ( 3cm longer).
 So area of rectangle = length x breadth
 = 5cm x 8cm
 = 40 square cm
 Conclusion, it can work for similar
problems.(Generalisation)
 Teach mathematical concepts through
problem-solving contexts and enquiry-
oriented environments which are marked by
the teacher “helping students construct a
deep understanding of mathematical ideas
and processes by engaging them in doing
mathematics: creating, conjecturing,
exploring, testing, and verifying” (Lester et
al., 1994, p.154).
 “Teaching through problem solving” needs to
be clearly distinguished from “teaching
problem solving.”
 Teaching problem solving involves the
teaching of strategies such as guessing,
supposing and predicting to solve problems
 In “teaching through problem solving,” on the
other hand, the goal is for students to learn
precisely that mathematical idea that the
curriculum calls for them to learn next.
 A “teaching through problem solving” lesson
would begin with the teacher setting up the
context and introducing the problem.
 Students then work on the problem for about 10
minutes while the teacher monitors their
progress and notes which students are using
which approaches.
 Then the teacher begins a whole-class
discussion.
 Similar to a “teaching problem solving” lesson,
the teacher may call on students to share their
ideas, but, instead of ending the lesson there,
the teacher will ask students to think about and
compare the different ideas — which ideas are
incorrect and why, which ideas are correct, which
ones are similar to each other, which ones are
more efficient or more elegant.
 Through this discussion, the lesson enables
students to learn new mathematical ideas or
procedures.
 What role does the teacher plays when
teaching through problem-solving?
 What role does the learner plays when
teaching through problem-solving?
 Looking back is the last step where learners
examine whether the answer is reasonable
 Learners may discover wrong answers at this
point
 Learners reflect on the mathematics used and
determine if there might be different ways of
solving the problem.
 Learners reflect on any connections to other
problems or generalizations.
The overall purpose is to improve learners'
performance at solving problems correctly.
 The specific goals/rationale of problem-
solving in Mathematics are to:
1.Improve learners' willingness to try problems
and improve their perseverance when
solving problems.
2. Improve learners' self-concepts with respect
to their abilities to solve problems.
3. Make learners aware of the problem-solving
strategies.
4. Make learners aware of the value of approaching
problems in a systematic manner.
5. Make learners aware that many problems can be
solved in more than one way.
6. Improve learners' abilities to select appropriate
solution strategies.
7. Improve learners' abilities to implement solution
strategies accurately.
8. Improve learners' abilities to get more correct
answers to problems.
What are the possible implications for the
primary school Mathematics teacher, if
he/she has to teach mental arithmetic
problem-solving techniques through
problem-solving?
 Polya, G. (1973).How To Solve It. New
York:Princeton University Press.
 Lester, F.K.Jr., Masingila, J.O., Mau, S.T.,
Lambdin, D.V., dos Santon, V.M. and Raymond,
A.M. (1994). 'Learning how to teach via problem
solving'. in Aichele, D. and Coxford, A. (Eds.)
Professional Development for Teachers of
Mathematics , pp. 152-166. Reston, Virginia:
NCTM.
 Olkin, I. & Schoenfeld, A. (1994). A discussion of
Bruce Reznick's chapter. In A. Schoenfeld (Ed.).
Mathematical Thinking and Problem Solving. (pp.
39-51). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates.