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• How much money would the average person in your town save
in a year by walking instead of driving or taking public
transport?
"First I told the class a story about Peter's argument with his
family. Peter failed to persuade his parents to buy expensive
sportshoes as his birthday present and thought that his
parents did not treat him well. The parents also felt upset as
they regarded this son as an inconsiderate child. They
thought that he should understand that the economy is not
so good. They asked Peter if he knew about how much
money was being spent on him throughout the whole year.
Unfortunately, Peter could not produce the answer
immediately. So I asked the class if they could help Peter. I
asked them to find answers to the following problems:
Non-Routine Problems
Non-routine problems can be used to encourage
logical thinking, reinforce or extend pupils'
understanding of concepts, and to develop problem-
solving strategies which can be applied to other
situations. The following is an example of a non-
routine problem:
What is my mystery number?
Step 7: Reflection
Mathematical Investigations
Mathematical investigations can fit into any of the
above three categories. These are problems, or
questions, which often start in response to the pupils'
questions, or questions posed by the teacher such as,
"Could we have done the same thing with 3 other
numbers?", or, "What would happen if...." (Bird,
1983). At the beginning of an investigation, the pupils
do not know if there will be a suitable answer, or more
than one answer. Furthermore, the teacher either
does not know the outcome, or pretends not to know.
Bird suggests that an investigation approach is
suitable for many topics in the curriculum and
encourages communication, confidence, motivation
and understanding as well as mathematical thinking.
The use of this approach makes it difficult for pupils to
just carry out routine tasks without thinking about
what they are doing.
Bird believes that investigational problem solving can
be enhanced if students are encouraged to ask their
own questions. She suggested that the teacher can
introduce a "starter" to the whole class, ask the
students to work at it for a short time, ask them to jot
down any questions which occurred to them while
doing it, and pool ideas. Initially it will be necessary
for the teacher to provide some examples of "pooled"
questions, for example:
Conclusion
This article has suggested some reasons why problem
solving is an important vehicle for educating students
for life by promoting interest, developing common
sense and the power to discriminate. In particular, it
is an approach which encourages flexibility, the ability
to respond to unexpected situations or situations that
do not have an immediate solution, and helps to
develop perseverance in the face of failure. A
problem-solving approach can provide a vehicle for
students to construct their own ideas about
mathematics and to take responsibility for their own
learning. While these are all important mathematics
skills, they are also important life skills and help to
expose pupils to a values education that is essential to
their holistic development.
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