THE EFFECTS ON STUDENTS' PROBLEM
SOLVING BEHAVIOUR OF
LONG-TERM TEACHING THROUGH A PROBLEM
SOLVING APPROACH.
Kaye
Stacey[1]
Abstract
Students from two Year 9 classes at an Australian high school were interviewed
as they worked on various mathematical problem solving questions. One class had for three years been taught by
a teacher very committed to teaching through a problem solving approach and to
demonstrating the everyday usefulness of mathematical ideas. The other class had received traditional
instruction, with only occasional problem solving tasks given mainly for
amusement or as a "fill-in."
Three principal differences in their approaches to the questions were
observed. Students from the class which emphasised problem solving worked more deliberately and
kept helpful written records of their work.
They were noticeably less prone to close quickly on an answer by
combining numbers in the question in a superficial way. Instead they were more likely to use a guess
and check strategy effectively.
[1] This research was supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council. I wish to thank Ian Isaacs, Francesca Calati, Cecilia Del Beato and Mollie MacGregor for many valuable discussions and their careful assistance with data collection and analysis and the teachers and students who participated so willingly in the study.