Heuristic Method

•Heuristic derived from Greek word heurisco

meaning I find or discover
•Also called discover, inquiry or guided method
•For Bruner (1960) they are methods and strategies
that can be helpful in problem solving
•Schoenfeld (1985), heuristics have now become
nearly synonymous with mathematical problem
solving
• problem solving approach that takes one’s personal
account
 Cont.
• Minimum instruction is given to the student and he is
required to solve a given problem
• record everything about his experiment, research,
observation, result, and draw conclusion.
• Heuristic approach is a mathematical thinking tool to
facilitate participants in solving mathematical
problem.
• Example 1:
• Take a problem of the discovery of the properties of parallelogram
• Example 2:
• Prove that a0 = 1
• Teacher         :        what is 10/5?
• Student         :        2
• Teacher         :        what is 5/5?
• Student         :        1
• Teacher         :        what is 7/7?
• Student         :        1
• Teacher         :        what is a/a ?
• Student         :        1                          
• Teacher         :        what is am/am ?
• The approach involves the application of the
following practices (Polya, 1954):
o To make a calculated guess, such as guess and
check, look for patterns, make suppositions.
o To go through the process, work backwards.
o To change the problem, such as restate the
problem, simplify the problem, and solve part
of the problem
 Project Method
• Also based on the philosophy of “learning by
doing”
• devised by famous educationist William H.
Kilpatrick and defined it as; “whole-hearted
purposeful activity”
• students are engaged in such kind of projects in
which they get opportunity to apply their
theoretical knowledge and learn practically.
• May be individual level but usually in small groups
• provides cooperative learning
• PROCEDURE: To complete any project we have
to follow 5 stages
• Providing a situation
• Choosing and purposing
• Planning of the project
• Executing the project
• Judging the project
• Running a stationary store in the school
• Comparison of expenses estimated for
different modes of journey
• Running hostel mess
 Problem Solving Method
• Every child has the curiosity to explore the things and
this psychology of the children can be utilized in a
better way through problem solving method
• students are given such problems which cannot be
solved easily or their solutions are not obvious
• student used already known formulas, rules and
concepts
• Students tries to reach the goals or solutions through
the set of events or procedures called lower order
capabilities and what they learnt are higher order skills.
 Steps in Problem Solving / Procedure for
Problem solving
• Identifying and defining the problem:
• Analyzing the problem:
• Formulating tentative hypothesis
• Testing the hypothesis:
• Verifying of the result or checking the result
• Example :
• Define union of two sets. If A={2,3,5}. B={3,5,6} And
C={4,6,8,9}.
• Prove that:  AU(BUC)=(AUB)UC
• Solution :
• Step 1: Identifying and Defining the Problem
• After selecting and understanding the problem the child will
be able to define the problem in his own words that
• The union of two sets A and B is the set, which contains all
the members of a set A and all the members of a set B.
• The union of two set A and B is express as ‘AUB ’
• The common elements are taken only once in the union of
two sets
• Step 2: Analyzing the Problem
• After defining the problem in his own words, the child
will analyze the given problem that how the problem
can be solved?
• Step 3 : Formulating Tentative Hypothesis
• After analyzing the various aspects of the problem he
will be able to make hypothesis that first of all he
should calculate the union of sets B and C i.e. ‘BUC’
Then the union of set A and ’BUC’. Thus he can get the
value of AU(BUC) . Similarly he can solve (AUB)UC
• Step 4: Testing Hypothesis
• Thus on the basis of given data, the child will be
able to solve the problem in the following
manner
• In the example it is given that
• After solving the problem the child will analyze
the result on the basis of given data and verify
his hypothesis whether A U (B U C) is equals
to  (A U B)  U C or not. 
• Step 5 : Verifying of the result
• After testing and verifying his hypothesis the
child will be able to conclude that
• A U (B U C) = (A U B)  U C
• Thus the child generalizes the results and
apply his knowledge in new situations.