Why Teach Problem Solving?

In this section we discuss Why Teach Problem Solving under the two headings:

Benefits of Problem Solving Difficulties of Teaching Problem Solving

The most obvious (but not necessarily the best) reason for teaching problem solving is that it is part of the
Mathematical Processes Strand and therefore is part of the mathematics curriculum. So why is problem solving part
of the mathematics curriculum?

Benefits of Problem Solving

Problem solving is the process part of mathematics that has often been overlooked in the past in favour of skills such
as addition and solving triangles (see What is Problem Solving?). But there are other reasons for it to be part of the
mathematics curriculum. The following are some reasons that are frequently suggested as to why you should include
problem solving in your maths programme.

 It bases students’ mathematical development on their current knowledge;

 It is an interesting and enjoyable way to learn mathematics;
 It is a way to learn new mathematics with greater understanding;
 It produces positive attitudes towards mathematics;
 It makes the student a junior research mathematician;
 It teaches thinking, flexibility and creativity;
 It teaches general problem solving skills;
 It encourages cooperative skills;
 It is a useful way to practice mathematical skills learned by other means;
 It is similar in approach to the way that other subjects are taught in primary school.

Based on current knowledge. Currently much credence is being given to a theory of learning
called constructivism. This proposes that we construct our knowledge through our experience rather than absorbing
what we are told. The constructivist views the child as an active learner. The more traditional approach to teaching
mathematics sees the child as an empty vessel that has to be filled. Correspondingly we have two contrasting models
of "the guide on the side", the coach trying to encourage the learner along, and "the sage on the stage", the lecturer
imparting knowledge. In actual fact, the best teaching approach is probably some combination of the two.

Most of the problems used in problem solving have more than one solution. So each of them can be approached in a
variety of ways, some of which are sophisticated and some of which are less sophisticated. Hopefully, every child in
your class can find one approach that they can use to solve the problems that you present. Over time, and from
seeing what other children have done, you should be able to develop and extend the range of strategies that the
children have at their disposal. So, starting with the members of your own class in mind, problems can be found that
can give every child in the class the chance of making some progress toward a solution, either on their own or with
the assistance of others in their group. Hence all children can develop from their current knowledge.

Interesting and enjoyable. Problem solving seems to employ problems that are implicitly interesting to children. This
is partly because problem solving does not involve a sequence of very similar questions that are designed to practice
the same skill. The novelty of the problems seems to add to their interest.

Many teachers personalise word problems to include characters that the children in the class know. This also makes
them more interesting and relevant to the children.

Then again the questions can be very interesting in themselves. This is partly because they involve some detective
work, which most people enjoy. It’s also partly because we all enjoy getting the answer after having struggled with a
problem. And it’s partly because children enjoy having "ownership" of the problem. The ownership issue is an
important one. By working on a problem, children become involved with it and can get quite deeply involved with the
mathematics that is both required to solve it, and that may be required to solve it.
Greater understanding. In the process of struggling with a problem, children can often obtain a fairly deep
understanding of the mathematics surrounding the problem. This understanding is often enhanced, when, in a whole
class setting, teachers draw together the various threads from all of the children in the class. (We say more about this
in the 'Reporting Back' section of Organising the Teaching of Problem Solving.)

Positive attitudes. Because the children seem to enjoy the problems, and get quite involved with them (we have
seen children work through their breaks in order to settle a problem), it helps them to gain a positive attitude towards
the subject. Some of them have even expressed the opinion that what they were doing was not mathematics and
have asked to do more problem solving instead of mathematics! But we want them to see that problem solving is
mathematics and that it is an enjoyable subject.

Junior research mathematician. The way that children tackle problems is virtually the same as the way a research
mathematician tackles research problems. There is very little difference between a child using the Scientific Approach
to problem solve and a mathematician using it to do research. Hence through problem solving, children get a much
better feel for what mathematics is actually about than they get in the more traditional type of teaching. Hopefully they
begin to see that the subject is a live one, get some feeling for the way it is created, and see why certain things are
done in certain ways. This then increases their insight into the subject as a whole and gives them a better feeling for
what the subject is and what it is trying to do.

Flexibility and creativity. Problem solving provides an opportunity for children to explore ideas and so gives them
the chance to extend their creativity. Children are continually coming up with ways of tackling problems that we hadn’t
thought of before. The interesting thing is that the children who are producing these ideas are not always the ones
who we generally think of as being good at mathematics. Even apparently relatively weak children may have ideas
that turn out to be fruitful. Sometimes though, it can take a little work on the your part before the consequences of
some ideas are seen.

General problem solving. It is important to point out at this stage, that though we are concentrating here on
mathematical problem solving, many of the strategies and techniques that are used in mathematics are used in any
type of problem. The four stages of problem solving due to Pólya (in What is Problem Solving?) are quite general
steps that can be applied to any problem whether mathematical or not!

Cooperative skills. Traditionally, mathematics has been taught to individuals working by themselves. Very little
encouragement has been given to cooperation in the traditional didactic approach to teaching mathematics. There
has not been the emphasis on children working together that there has been in other curriculum areas. But working in
cooperative groups does seem to have advantages. Somehow, talking mathematics out loud appears to help learning
and understanding, and it also seems to help many children produce original ideas. So emphasising group work in
problem solving appears to increase enjoyment, learning and social skills such as communication.

To practice skills. Some teachers use problems to reinforce technical skills that may have been taught in other
ways. Certain problems are chosen because they will use certain algorithmic skills. The divide by 2 or multiply by
three and add 1 problem (in What is Problem Solving?) is an example of this. To get any feel for this problem you
have to do quite a bit of arithmetic. If you want to practice the 5 times table, then do the extension where the 3 is
changed to a 5. This problem then gives some point to multiplication. Hopefully after doing lots of examples the
children will start to see some patterns. We have also mentioned the practising of skills under the strategy Think. By
choosing problems of this type the children have an opportunity to work on basic skills in an interesting situation.

Similar approach to other subjects. Approaching mathematics through a problem solving perspective puts the
subject much more on a par with other subjects especially those in the primary school. The general philosophy of the
teacher as a facilitator helping the child to learn and understand, is much more akin to the philosophy adopted in
other areas of the curriculum than it is in the more traditional approach to mathematics. We believe that problem
solving may provide a way to teach mathematics that is more in sympathy with primary teachers’ approach to
teaching generally.

Difficulties of Teaching Problem Solving Back to Top

There are generally thought to be a number of disadvantages to the teaching of problem solving in class. We list and
discuss some of these below.
  It produces teacher discomfort;
 It produces student insecurity;
 It puts constraints on the curriculum and takes too long to teach;
 It is not possible with students of low ability;
 It takes a lot of preparation.

Teacher discomfort. There are two aspects to the matter of teacher discomfort. One of these is that many teachers
do not really understand what problem solving is. This is not surprising because it is new to most teachers. Most
teachers currently teaching have not been students in a classroom where problem solving was part of the
mathematics programme. Many of them believe that it is not possible to teach it without first attending a course. It is
certainly true that most teachers need help to get problem solving under way in their classrooms. While some
teachers do find it difficult to get started, others get the idea very quickly. Like anything else, problem solving can be
learned by groups of teachers working together.

The second concern that teachers express, is the worry that children will come up with ideas that they won’t
understand. In a way this shouldn’t happen. In problem solving we expect children to be able to explain their
methods. So you should be able to understand most of the ideas and solutions children produce because the children
should be able to explain them. However, you can’t be expected to know everything about everything. So you
shouldn’t feel embarrassed if you are not sure if the child’s idea is a good one or not. There is nothing wrong with you
telling a child, class or group that you are not sure but will try to find out. Often things can be resolved by a quiet
moment with a coffee, a paper and pencil or with a chat to colleagues in the staff room. However, as time goes by the
answers to these unexpected ideas will mount, as will your strategies for dealing with them.

Student insecurity. This may occur because the children have never met open-ended problems before. Some
teachers in mathematics have traditionally given children algorithms to practice and copy. It is not surprising that in
more open problem solving situations, some children will feel insecure. However, by careful handling and by
introducing things gradually, children should be able to overcome their initial insecurity.

Curriculum constraints. Many teachers, especially initially, feel that problem solving takes a considerable amount of
time. Hence they are concerned that parts of the mathematics curriculum at a given Level, will need to be omitted.
Our experience is that teaching problem solving is time consuming initially. It does seem to take a while for both
teachers and children to get the feel of how it works. But after this initial period, time can be actually gained. Many
teachers who we have worked with have told us that, by using problem solving, they have been able to cover the
material more quickly than in previous years. They put this down partly to the fact that the children were looking for,
and seeing, patterns everywhere. This enabled the teachers to cover ideas more quickly. It was also partly due to the
fact that children were coming up with ideas that were the foundations of later topics in the curriculum. These two
things appeared to be speeding up children’s learning.

There does seem to be another factor though. The time that children spend on problem solving seems to help them
to come to grips with a topic - to own it. This produces greater understanding and provides a solid base for later
learning.

Low ability students. There is some feeling that it is all right to undertake problem solving with bright children but it
is of little value for lower ability children. Admittedly we have no research evidence ourselves in this area, at least, not
in primary schools. However, we do have the example of a lower ability fourth form class that made significant gains
in mathematics after having problem solving lessons once a week for two terms. These gains were across the
curriculum and were not just confined to problem solving. Hence we would suggest that such gains might also be
possible for mathematically weaker primary school children.

But there is an issue regarding both children who are not good readers and ESOL children. Clearly these children
may not be able to read the problem. Because it is the mathematics that is important, lack of reading ability should
not be a barrier to these children.

All children will need to read the problem more than once. If you are starting children off with a problem from a whole
class setting, then it will almost certainly be read more than once. You can assess whether or not all children have
understood the problem by asking them to restate it in their own words. As you go around from group to group, you
can also check that every child is working on the problem that you actually posed. With New Entrants children, you
will probably do most of your problem solving starting in a whole class situation. During this time you can make sure
that the problem is understood.
Things are a little more difficult if you plan to give the students the problem in written form to work on, without any
prior whole class discussion. One way round this is to give children an audiotaped version of the problem. This
should help those who are poorer readers and it might also help the ESOL students. If there are still difficulties, then
think how you cope with these children in other areas of the curriculum and use those strategies in problem solving
too.

Preparation time. There is no doubt that this is a problem for teachers undertaking problem solving for the first time.
The main difficulty is finding the right problem to use to introduce a given strategy or to fit in to a given Strand or
Level. One of the points of this web-site is to provide problems that are easily accessible in Strand and Level format.
On the other hand, time can certainly be saved if informal teacher networks are established. Then ideas and
problems can be shared.