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ERIC Number: EJ898217
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Sep
Pages: 5
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1072-0839
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Important Thing about Teaching Problem Solving
Roberts, Sally K.
Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, v16 n2 p104-108 Sep 2010
The author teaches a content course in problem solving for middle school teachers. During the course, teacher candidates have the opportunity to confront their insecurities as they actively engage in solving math problems using a variety of strategies. As the semester progresses, they add new strategies to their problem-solving arsenal and explicitly reflect on teaching and learning practices that are conducive to this process. In the problem-solving autobiographies they complete in the first week of the semester, students expressed their insecurities of the dreaded word problems and their own problem-solving skills. However, after students have completed this course and the author has read their reflections and metacognitive journals and heard their class comments, she feels assured that they are beginning to think differently about the problem-solving process. Although these comments are heartening, the author wanted one last opportunity to support their commitment to teaching problem solving in a more meaningful way. Using "The Important Book," the author demonstrates an instructional strategy that may help teachers assess students' thinking and help students bring closure to their learning.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. 1906 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191-1502. Tel: 800-235-7566; Tel: 703-620-3702; Fax: 703-476-2970; e-mail: orders@nctm.org; Web site: http://www.nctm.org/publications/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A