This book identifies the educational problems and issues that could be solved by design and discusses how to overcome these challenges by adopting a design thinking approach. The chapters cover topics such as opportunities and challenges for the futures of education, the emerging models of design thinking for education, learning activity design,…

In 2010, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation's Education Program has established the Deeper Learning Initiative, which focuses on students' development of deeper learning skills (i.e., the mastery of core academic content, critical-thinking, problem-solving, collaboration, communication, and "learn-how-to-learn" skills). Two test…

This book provides a collection of 191 mathematical problems aimed at the advanced high school student level and above. Problems cover general mathematical areas including plane geometry, three-dimensional geometry, number theory, algebra, combinatorics and graph theory, and a number of miscellaneous questions that combine mathematical…

Presents an activity to involve students in mathematical communication and creative thinking. The activity is similar to the "pass it along" gossip game in which each person in a chain adds a piece of information. The class analyzes the resulting mathematics problem using George Polya's problem-solving techniques. (MKR)

Describes seven number-sense skills for elementary and middle school grades. Provides eight short stories for grades three through eight designed to develop students' number-sense skills in which students replace missing data so that the story makes sense. (MDH)

Discusses the tutorial process in problem-based learning (PBL) and how it can be used to cultivate higher order thinking skills. Considers the role of the problem, collaboration among peers, the facilitator role, and the importance of student reflection. PBL principles are applied to instruction of gifted students. (DB)

When teaching primary mathematics, story problems with themes that are special to children (such as anything to do with animals) work well to develop their numerical reasoning. Children benefit from problem-solving experiences that help develop their number sense. The paper presents an activity for practicing numerical reasoning and offers three…

This collection of problems provides a resource for teachers to use in the classroom to improve the problem-solving experiences of their students. This book provides middle school teachers with some perspectives on problem solving. A framework for organizing the problem- solving experience is presented. Each phase of the problem-solving experience…

Research reveals that successful problem solvers must possess comprehensive knowledge, and more importantly, have appropriate knowledge organization and understanding. A new taxonomy of medical problems is recommended, and it is suggested that the traditional hypothetico-deductive strategy for problem-based learning be replaced by scheme-driven…

This article describes the factors to which the classroom teacher needs to attend to enhance the mathematical problem-solving abilities of students. Emphasis is placed upon the means necessary to develop the attribute of being a problem solver, rather than focusing on the goal of becoming a problem solver. (JJK)

Presents 14 distinct methods to determine the sine of the angle formed by the line segments joining one vertex of a square to the midpoints of the nonadjacent sides. Nine methods were developed by mathematics club participants preparing for mathematics competitions and the remaining five by faculty members. (MDH)

Presents a scenario using an animal word problem and illustrates how kindergarten classrooms can become rich environments to develop students' mathematical power. Presents student solutions. (MKR)

This article discusses the fourth step in a process for solving mathematics problems--verifying the plan of action for solving the problem and developing the plan of action into an equation. The lesson plan included reviews the first three steps in the problem-solving process and provides directed instruction guidelines. (JDD)

This paper identifies five types of learning experiences which are relevant to understanding students' grasp of concepts and principles. These include exploring existing concepts, honing and clustering concepts, developing analytical and reasoning skills, developing problem solving skills, and structuring knowledge in memory. Each of these…

This article describes a problem-solving strategy unit to be used as a supplement to the regular mathematics curriculum at the primary level. Specific teaching steps and examples are given for three developmental stages of thinking: (1) concrete, (2) representational, and (3) abstract. (DB)