The ultimate goal of any problem-solving program is to improve students'

performance at solving problems correctly. The specific goals of problem-

solving in Mathematics are to:
1. Improve pupils' willingness to try problems and improve their perseverance
when solving problems.
2. Improve pupils' self-concepts with respect to the abilities to solve problems.
3. Make pupils aware of the problem-solving strategies.
4. Make pupils aware of the value of approaching problems in a systematic
manner.
5. Make pupils aware that many problems can be solved in more than one way.
6. Improve pupils' abilities to select appropriate solution strategies.
7. Improve pupils' abilities to implement solution strategies accurately.
8. Improve pupils' abilities to get more correct answers to problems.
http://library.thinkquest.org/25459/learning/problem/#goals

critical thinking and problem solving

Promoting critical thinking and problem solving in mathematics education is

crucial in the development of successful students. Critical thinking and
problem solving go hand in hand. In order to learn mathematics through
problem solving, the students must also learn how to think critically.

There are five values of teaching through problem solving

• Problem solving focuses the students attention on ideas and sense

making rather than memorization of facts
• Problem solving develops the student’s belief that they are capable of
doing mathematics and that mathematics makes sense；
• It provides ongoing assessment data that can be used to make
instructional decisions, help students succeed, and inform parents;
• Teaching through problem solving is fun and when learning is fun,
students have a better chance of remembering it later.

The primary objective is to help the student to become aware of the

fact that problem solving is not a special area but instead uses the
same logical processes to which they are already familiar and use
routinely.

Critical thinking – applied to the methodology of teaching mathematics

by Ioana Marcut
http://depmath.ulbsibiu.ro/educamath/em/vol1nr1/marcut/marcut.pdf

First, problem solving is a major part of mathematics. It is the sum and

substance of our discipline and to reduce the discipline to a set of
exercises and skills devoid of problem solving is misrepresenting
mathematics as a discipline and shortchanging the students. Second,
mathematics has many applications and often those applications
represent important problems in mathematics. Our subject is used in
the work, understanding, and communication within other disciplines.
Third, there is an intrinsic motivation embedded in solving
mathematics problems. We include problem solving in school
mathematics because it can stimulate the interest and enthusiasm of
the students. Fourth, problem solving can be fun. Many of us do
mathematics problems for recreation. Finally, problem solving must be
in the school mathematics curriculum to allow students to develop the
art of problem solving. This art is so essential to understanding
mathematics and appreciating mathematics that it must be an
instructional goal.
Teachers often provide strong rationale for not including problem
solving activities is school mathematics instruction. These include
arguments that problem solving is too difficult, problem solving takes
too much time, the school curriculum is very full and there is no room
for problem solving, problem solving will not be measured and tested,
mathematics is sequential and students must master facts,
procedures, and algorithms, appropriate mathematics problems are
not available, problem solving is not in the textbooks, and basic facts
must be mastered through drill and practice before attempting the use
of problem solving. We should note, however, that the student benefits
from incorporating problem solving into the mathematics curriculum as
discussed above outweigh this line of reasoning. Also we should
caution against claiming an emphasize on problem solving when in fact
the emphasis is on routine exercises. From various studies involving
problem solving instruction,

MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM SOLVING

by

James W. Wilson, Maria L. Fernandez, and Nelda Hadaway

http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/emt725/PSsyn/Pssyn.html
Due to difiiculties with the comprehension of the text and the identification of
the “Mathematical core” of the problem, primary school children frequently
engage in a rather arbitrary and random operational combination of the
numbers given in the text. In doing so, they fail to acknowledge the
relationship between the given data and the real-world context. Failure in
solving so called “real-world problems” is obviously not related to a lack of
practice. In a quantitative study, Renkl and Stern (1994) who analysed the
data of 268 pupils from a total of 33 German primary classrooms found that
the success rate in solving traditional word problems is not significantly
improved by repeated practice.

Real-world problem solving involves the “mathematisation of non-

mathematical situation” (winter,1994) that is :
• The construction of a mathematical model with respect to the real-
world situation
• *the finding (calculation of the unknown and
• And the transfer of the mathematical result derived from the
mathematical model to the real-world situation.

Q1 ) The record for the greatest number of consecutive jumping jacks is 14500 in 5
hours and 35 minutes. If Joe does 55 jumping jacks per minute, how long will it
take Joe to tie the record?

Hints : #jacks / (#jacks/min) = #minutes

Answer: 1min/55 * 14500 = 263.64 min
= 4h 23.64 min.

Q2 ) French Fry Fun

1. There are about 20 potatoes in a 5 pound bag. A restaurant uses about 2 potatoes per
order of French Fries. They charge $.95 for an order of Fries. How much money does the
restaurant take in on a day that they use 400 pounds of potatoes?

Odd
2. The object of this activity is to find the sum of the first 25 odd counting numbers. One
way is to add 1 + 3 + 5...continuing until you have added the first 25 odd numbers.
However, this is too much work for the problem. Look for patterns and combinations to
find a much easier way to solve this. Apply what you have learned from this problem and
find the sum of the first 25 even counting numbers.

Pump, Pump, Pump...

3. Your heart pumps about 5 quarts of blood through its chambers every 60 seconds. A
swimming pool (20 ft. x 60 ft.) will hold about 65,000 gallons of water. This represents
the amount of blood pumped by your heart in approximately how many weeks?

Going Shopping

4. The Carters are buying a new CD player. Three stores have the model they want on
sale this week. Here are the ads:
Radio Shop: Regular Price=$200, Discount=20% off
Discount City: Regular Price=$180, Discount=30% off
Ralph's: Regular Price=$210, Discount=10% off and Extra 20% off
Which store will give the Carters the best buy and what will the price be? Show all of the
steps and label your answer.

This will really challenge you...

Gas It Up

5. A car dealer claims that by buying a new car, Mike will pay 1/5 less for gas than he
pays for the car he currently owns. If the car Mike currently drives costs 1/6 less to gas
up than Dave's car, and Dave pays $700 per year, what will it cost Mike to put gas in a
new car for 1 year? Assume all cars will be traveling the same distance.

Measurement
Start out simple...
To Scale

6. Use 1/4 inch graph paper and make a scale drawing of your room. Use the scale 1/4" =
1 '.

Now try to work this out...

Farmer Felix's Field
7. Farmer Felix needs to put up a fence around his field. The dimensions of the field are
given in the diagram. But, he has a problem. He needs to be able to drive his tractor and
needs 10 feet between the field and the fence. How many feet of fencing should he buy?

Find a pattern
Question: Carol has written a number pattern that begins with 1, 3, 6, 10, 15. If she
continues this pattern, what are the next four numbers in her pattern?

Strategy:

1) UNDERSTAND:

What do you need to find?

You need to find 4 numbers after 15.

2) PLAN:

How can you solve the problem?

You can find a pattern. Look at the numbers. The new number depends upon the number
before it.

3) SOLVE:

Look at the numbers in the pattern.

3 = 1 + 2 (starting number is 1, add 2 to make 3)

6 = 3 + 3 (starting number is 3, add 3 to make 6)

10 = 6 + 4 (starting number is 6, add 4 to make 10)

15 = 10 + 5 (starting number is 10, add 5 to make 15)

New numbers will be

15 + 6 = 21

21 + 7 = 28

28 + 8 = 36

36 + 9 = 45

Work Backwards
Question: Jack walked from Santa Clara to Palo Alto. It took 1 hour 25 minutes to walk
from Santa Clara to Los Altos. Then it took 25 minutes to walk from Los Altos to Palo
Alto. He arrived in Palo Alto at 2:45 P.M. At what time did he leave Santa Clara?

Strategy:

1) UNDERSTAND:

What do you need to find?

You need to find what the time was when Jack left Santa Clara.

2) PLAN:

How can you solve the problem?

You can work backwards from the time Jack reached Palo Alto. Subtract the time it took
to walk from Los Altos to Palo Alto. Then subtract the time it took to walk from Santa
Clara to Los Altos.

3) SOLVE:

Start at 2:45. This is the time Jack reached Palo Alto.

Subtract 25 minutes. This is the time it took to get from Los Altos to Palo Alto.
Time is: 2:20 P.M.

Subtract: 1 hour 25 minutes. This is the time it took to get from Santa Clara to Los Altos..

Jack left Santa Clara at 12:55 P.M.

Guess and Check

Question: Amy and Judy sold 12 show tickets altogether. Amy sold 2 more tickets than
Judy. How many tickets did each girl sell?

Strategy:

1) UNDERSTAND:

What do you need to find?

You need to know that 12 tickets were sold in all. You also need to know that Amy sold 2
more tickets than Judy.

2) PLAN:

How can you solve the problem?

You can guess and check to find two numbers with a sum of 12 and a difference of 2. If
your first guess does not work, try two different numbers.

3) SOLVE:

First Guess:
Amy = 8 tickets
Judy = 4 tickets

Check
8 + 4 = 12
8 - 4 = 4 ( Amy sold 4 more tickets)
These numbers do not work!

Second Guess:
Amy = 7 tickets
Judy = 5 tickets

Check
7 + 5 = 12
7- 5 = 2 ( Amy sold 2 more tickets)
These numbers do work!

Amy sold 7 tickets and Judy sold 5 tickets.

Make a Table

Question: You save RM3 on Monday. Each day after that you save twice as much as you
saved the day before. If this pattern continues, how much would you save on Friday?

Strategy:

1) UNDERSTAND:

You need to know that you save $3 on Monday. Then you need to know that you always
save twice as much as you find the day before.

2) PLAN:

How can you solve the problem?

You can make a table like the one below. List the amount of money you save each day.
Remember to double the number each day.
Day Amount of Money Saved
Monday $3
Tuesday $6
Wednesday $12
Thursday $24
Friday $48

You save RM48 on Friday

 Draw a Picture

Question: Laura has 3 green chips, 4 blue chips and 1 red chip in her bag. What fractional
part of the bag of chips is green?

Strategy:

1) UNDERSTAND:

What do you need to find?

You need to find how many chips are in all. Then you need to find how many of the chips
are green.

2) PLAN:

How can you solve the problem?

You can draw a picture to show the information. Then you can use the picture to find the
answer.

3) SOLVE:

Draw 8 chips.

3/8 of the chips are green.