This study investigated the independent strategy development of 7- to 12-year-old children from the suburbs of Brisbane, Australia in solving a series of novel, two- and three-dimensional combinatorial problems. For each of the problem types, a sequence of five, increasingly complex, strategies was identified from the children's actions and…

Arguing that operations research is not as difficult and forbidding as its reputation implies, and that many problems lend themselves to analysis using common sense, the author provides examples which might be used in a secondary school classroom. (SD)

Three games played with regular bridge decks of cards are described. By playing the games students gain practice in use of basic operations on integers and in the development of strategies. (SD)

Explains the use of cassette tapes of discussions on problems included in a chemistry course. The student is aided in converting the sentence form of a problem to the symbolism of mathematics. (GS)

Suggests problem solving to replace lecture on a broad scale to facilitate training in intellectual skills and abilities, and in the teaching of some important facts, ideas, and concepts. (GS)

The research question addressed in this study was: "How do the problem-solving heuristic processes used by preservice elementary teachers who are more effective problem solvers differ from those used by less effective problem solvers?" Three more- and three less-effective problem solvers performed a card sorting task designed to determine if…

Activities related to content areas important to the primary mathematics program, but outside the scope of arithmetic, geometry and measurement, are presented. Topics include relations, number sentences, solving sentences, logic, probability, statistics, number theory, and the system of integers, Inclusion of these topics is justified and…

The role of visual-spatial operations in nonroutine mathematical problem solving in schoolchildren is investigated through a search of related literature. It is suggested that certain visual-spatial operations are concomitant with the mental processes necessary in problem solving. The following topics are discussed: (1) the importance of problem…

The primary questions investigated are: Is it true that males excel in mathematical problem solving and, if so, when does this superiority develop? An examination of recent research showed that sex-related differences did exist, although small, even after controlling for mathematics background. Differences appeared in early adolescence and were…

Several examples are given of a variety of nonstandard problems, not ordinarily found in texts or courses, now accessible to students who have programmable calculators. These include: (1) finding limits; (2) evaluating infinite series; (3) calculating finite series; (4) computing variable length products; (5) solving equations; (6) searching for…

This paper briefly reviews some of the literature on the use of visual imagery in the conceptualization and solution of mathematical problems, especially its use in the learning of mathematics by children, and notes that a mutually facilitative effect occurs between mathematics and visual aptitude. A bibliography, a short list of resource…

LISP LOGO is a computer language invented for the beginning student of man-machine interaction. The language has the advantages of simplicity and naturalness as well as that of emphasizing the difference between programs and data. The language is based on the LOGO language and uses mnemonic syllables as commands. It can be used in conjunction with…

In the pair of experiments reported here the authors investigated the relationship between meaningfulness of problem statements and subjects' use of these statements in problem-solving tasks. Subjects (96 university students) were required to memorize meaningful formulae such as "volume = area x height" or corresponding symbolic formulae such as…

In this study three issues related to "expert" problem solving were studied; the problems considered were based on Tower of Hanoi puzzles. A computer simulation was proposed and tested, effects of cues on subjects' performance were studied, and inter-problem transfer was analyzed. Four predictions were posed for the simulation study. Two of these…