1

Lecturer: Dr. L. Luwango

Problem solving teaching approach

Notes prepared by: Dr. Luiya Luwango – Rundu Campus

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Problem solving teaching approach.

1. What is a mathematics problem?

2. How can a problem-solving teaching approach be
applied in the classroom?
3. What are the guiding principles of the problem-
solving teaching approach?
4. The four steps of solving a problem.
5. What to consider when teaching.
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1. What a mathematics problem is.

A problem in mathematics entails a task for

which:
1. A learner confronting the task wants or needs to
find a solution.
2. The learner has no readily available procedure
for finding the solution.
3. The learner must make an attempt to find a
solution.
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Example of a mathematics problem

 It is a good practice to introduce mathematics lesson

activities or concepts with a story problem in order to
have learners engaged and arouse their learning
interests (Kleopas, 2020).
 James had some oranges in his bag. His friend gave
him two more oranges, now James has eleven oranges.
How many oranges were in James’ bag before he
received two more oranges?
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Problem-solving

 In a teacher-centered classroom, problem

solving is taught directly where a teacher
provides examples for learners to use.
 In a learner-centered classroom, problem
solving skills are developed constructively
through discovery(Kamii and Joseph, 2004).
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2. Application of a problem solving
approach

 Teachmathematical concepts through problem-

solving contexts and enquiry-oriented
environments for learners to learn through
discovery of computation strategies.
Teacher knowledge of the problem solving 7
teaching approach.

 A teacher must understand that problem solving

is a process of “helping students construct a
deep understanding of mathematical ideas and
processes by engaging them in doing
mathematics: creating, conjecturing, exploring,
testing, and verifying” (Lester et al., 1994,
p.154).
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3. Guiding principles for a
problem solving approach
 The first principle encourages teachers to introduce
real-world problems first, unlike providing context-
free algorithms.
 The second principle discourages teachers from
providing examples of strategies to solve problems
for learners to reproduce and solve similar
exercises. The idea is that learners must be given
the opportunity to solve a problem by themselves
without any examples.
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Guiding principles for a problem
solving approach
 The third principle maintains that the teacher must
avoid announcing whether an answer is right or
wrong (judging) but must rather promote discussion
of different strategies and answers for learners to
indicate agreement or disagreement.
 The fourth principle affirms that after a learner has
carried out a calculation, the teacher must persuade
the learner to think of other ways to solve the same
problem.
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Guiding principles for a problem
solving approach

 The fifth principle specifies that a teacher must

urge learners to think more than write. Different
strategies provided by learners should be written
on the board, either by the teacher or the
learners, to share strategies, understand
alternative strategies and place value (Kamii
and Joseph, 2004).
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4. Four steps of solving a problem.

Based on Polya’s (1945) heuristics:

 Understand the problem,
 Devise a plan/strategy,
 Implement the strategy,
 Look back to reflect on your result/solution.
(Understand, Plan, Try It, and Look Back).
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Four steps elaborated

Understand
Read and re-read the problem carefully to find all
the clues and determine what the question is
asking you to find.
Ask yourself if you've seen a problem similar to
this one before. If so, what is similar about it?
What facts are you given?
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Four steps elaborated

Plan
Once you understand the question and the clues,
it's time to use your previous experience with
similar problems to look for strategies and tools
to answer the question.
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Four steps elaborated

Try It
After deciding on a plan, you should try it
and see what answer you come up with.
Look Back
Once you've tried it and found an answer,
go back to the problem and see if you've
really answered the question. Does your
solution make sense with regards to the
problem?
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5. When teaching mathematics

 Create the opportunity for learners to discuss

different problem-solving strategies.
 Make learners aware of the value of
approaching problems in a systematic manner.
 Make learners aware that many problems can
be solved in more than one way.
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When teaching mathematics

 Improve learners' ability to select appropriate

solution strategies.
 Improve learners' ability to implement solution
strategies accurately.
 Improve learners' ability to reason
mathematically to get more correct answers to
problems using different methods.
 6. Importance of the problem-solving 17
teaching approach?

 Problem solving provides a learning context that

promotes learners’ ability to think creatively and
critically.
 It creates the opportunity to learn through
discovery.
 Problem solving improves learners' willingness
to try problems and improve their perseverance
when solving problems.
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Importance of the problem solving
teaching approach?

 Problem solving improves learners' self-concept

regarding their abilities to solve problems.
 Problem solving makes learning interesting and
relevant as it relates classroom mathematics to
daily life activities.
 Through problem solving learners can connect
classroom mathematics to the mathematics found
in real-world settings.
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Task

 Discussa teacher’s role when teaching

mathematics through a problem-solving
teaching approach.
 Whatkind of questions must a teacher pose to
promote learners’ critical thinking skills?
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SOURCE: VAN DER WALLE. CHAPTER 9, P. 146-153

USING THE FOUR PROBLEM
STRUCTURES FOR ADDITION AND
SUBTRACTION
1. JOIN. CHANG
E
RESULT
INITIAL (whole)

 JOIN: RESULT UNKNOWN

 JOIN: CHANGE UNKNOWN
 JOIN: INITIAL UNKNOWN
Example: JOIN

 Willem has 8 dollars. His mother gives him

another 4 dollars. How many dollars does he
have now?
 Willem has 8 dollars. His mother gives him
some more. He now has 12 dollars. How many
dollars did his mother give him?
 Willem has saved some dollars. His mother
gives him 4 dollars. Now Willem has 12 dollars.
How many dollars had he saved?
USING THE FOUR PROBLEM
STRUCTURES FOR ADDITION
AND SUBTRACTION
CHANG
INITIAL E RESULT
(whole)
 2.SEPARATE

 SEPARATE: RESULT UNKNOWN

 SEPARATE: CHANGE UNKNOWN
 SEPARATE: INITIAL UNKNOWN
Example: separate
 Mariahas 12 dollars. She gives 4 dollars to
Rauna. How many dollars does Maria have left?
 Maria has 12 dollars. She gives a few dollars to
Rauna. Maria now has 8 dollars left. How many
dollars did she give Rauna?
 Maria has some dollars. She gives 4 dollars to
Rauna. Now Maria has 8 dollars. How many
dollars did she have in the beginning?
USING THE FOUR PROBLEM
STRUCTURES FOR ADDITION AND
SUBTRACTION
3. PART-PART-WHOLE

 PART-PART-WHOLE: WHOLE
UNKNOWN
 PART-PART-WHOLE: PART UNKNOWN
USING THE FOUR PROBLEM
STRUCTURES FOR ADDITION
AND SUBTRACTION DIFFE
RENC
E

 4. COMPARE LARG
E
SMAL
SET
L
SET
 COMPARE: DIFF. UNKNOWN
 COMPARE: SM SET UNKNOWN
 COMPARE: LG SET UNKNOWN
Example: Compare
(more/fewer)
 COMPARE: DIFF. UNKNOWN
 Sara has 16 sweets. Taimi has 8 sweets. How many more sweets does Sara
have than Taimi?
 How many fewer sweets does Taimi have than Sara?
 COMPARE: SMALL SET UNKNOWN
 Soul has 4 more T-shirts than Frans. Soul has 9 T- shirts. How many T-
shirts does Frans have?
 Petrus has 2 fewer caps than Tomas. Tomas has 6 caps. How many caps
does Petrus have?
 COMPARE: LARGE SET UNKNOWN
 George has 3 more story books than Uno. Uno has 9 story books. How
many story books does George have?
 Petu has 2 fewer pencils than David. Petu has 5 pencils. How many
pencils does David have?
 TEACHING ADDITION AND
SUBTRACTION
• PROBLEMS SHOULD BE IN CONTEXT

• ALLOW CHILDREN TO USE PHYSICAL MATERIALS,

DRAWINGS , ETC. AND GIVE THEM TIME TO EXPLAIN
HOW THEY SOLVED THE PROBLEM
• ALSO PRE-PRIMARY AND GRADE 1 CAN SOLVE
PROBLEMS. (They usually find join and separate with the
initial unknown a challenge) In the beginning they can orally
solve problems without having to know the symbols for add
and separate.
• Introduce it when learners seem ready .
• CHOOSE NUMBERS THAT RELATE TO THE LEVEL OF
THE LEARNERS
TEACHING ADDITION AND
SUBTRACTION
 USING MODELS
• JOIN AND SEPARATE WITH TWO
COLOURS COUNTERS
• JOIN ANS SEPARATE USING A PART-PART –
WHOLE MAT
• NUMBER LINE
• TEACH SUBTRACTION AS “ THINK-
ADDITION”
• USE COMPARISON MODELS, E.G. TWO
COLOURS CONNECTING BLOCKS SO
Properties of addition and subtraction

 COMMUTATIVE PROPERTY FOR ADDITION

 The order of the numbers do not matter

 ASSOCIATIVE PROPERTY FOR ADDITION

 With three numbers to add the first two can be added first or the last
two – it will still give the same result.

 ZERO
 It is important to include 0 for addition sums to let learners discover
that o has an identity in addition and subtraction sums. 5 + 0 = 5
although the + sign means to make more.
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 MuLTIPLICATIVE STRUCTURES TEACHERS
SHOULD BE AWARE OF (X and ÷ applies)
 EQUAL GROUPS/SETS

 Number of sets

 WHOLE/PRODUCT

 Number and size of sets are known : MULTIPLICATION

 Either number of sets or size of sets unknown : DIVISION
EXAMPLES
 Equal groups: Whole unknown (x)
 Repeated addition:
 Tony bought 2 boxes of smarties. In each box are 32 smarties. How many
smarties does he have?
 Rate: (a ratio compares two quantities of different units; we calculate a ratio by bringing two numbers
into relationship)
 Each box of smarties cost N$ 3,50. How much did Tony pay for the two
boxes?
 Rate:
 Tony walked for 1 hour at 3km an hour. How far will he walk in 3 hours?
EXAMPLES
 Equal groups: Size of groups/sets unknown (partition division)
 Fair sharing
 Sara has a packet with 35 sweets. She shares it equally amongst
herself and four friends. How many does each one get?
 Rate
 Sara paid N$ 7,00 for the 35 sweets. What did one sweet cost?
 Rate
 Sara walked 3 km to buy the sweets in 27 minutes. How many
minutes did she walk per kilometer?

EXAMPLES
 Equal groups: Number of groups/sets unknown (measurement division)
 Repeated subtraction
 Anton has 28 goats. He uses 4 trucks to transport them.
 How many goats are on each truck?
 Rate
 Anton sells some goats for N$ 15,00 per head. He gets
 N$ 90,00. How many goats did he sell?
 Rate
 Anton drove 14 km at a rate of 6 km per hour to sell
 his goats. How long did it take him to drive the 14 km?
 Tony eats 4 smarties every second. How long will the 64
 smarties last?
 Subsets
COMPARISON PROBLEMS
 1x
match
Ref. set REFE-
RENCE

SET
2x

 3x

 N = multiplier (how many times greater than subset Nx

 N (the specific number)
EXAMPLES

 Comparison: Product unknown (multiplication)

 Mary has X apples: John has x times as many/ x times more
than….
 Comparison: set size unknown (partition divis.)
 Jan has N$ 36,00.He has four times as many as
 Fillemon. How much does F have?
 Comparison: multiplier unknown (measurem div.)
 Jan has N$ 36,00, and Jane has N$9,00. How many times as
many money does Jan have more than Jane?
 For this test Tomas got 63 %. For the previous test he got
9%. How many times as much did he get for this test?
COMBINATION PROBLEMS

 Here we have to find the possible

number of pairings between two sets,
e.g. shirts and pants.
 Draw and array or a tree diagram
 p. 156 vdW.
 Area: lxb (array)
TEACHING X AND ÷

 Teach x when children understand the concept of repeated addition.

 Children should be taught to see division as repeated subtraction
 Children need to understand that smaller groups of objects can form
a big group
 (grouping activities)
 See the difference and similarity between
 8 x 2 and 2 x 8
 Division: 6 ÷ 3; 3 6; 6
3
REMAINDERS can have

 Four effects on the answer: (grade 3, 4)

• is discarded “a remainder of 2”)
• can become a fraction
• can be rounded off the to the nearest
 whole number
• Force the answer to the next highest whole number
• Examples p. 158 vdW
PROPERTIES OF
MULTIPLICATION AND
DIVISION
 COMMUTATIVE : 2x8 and 8x2 gives the same
answer.
 ASSOCIATIVE: can pair the factors in the
expression (number sentence) in any order
 DISTRIBUTIVE: 3x 9: 3x5 + 3 x 4
 Zero times and 1time needs to be practically
experienced by children
 Division by zero: Do practically p. 161 vdW
STRATEGIES TO SOLVE CONTEXTUAL
X AND ÷ PROBLEMS
 Think about what the answer will look
like; analyse the problem
 Usesmaller number numbers (simpler
problem) change all numbers; leave one number
alone) p. 162 vdW.
 Two step problems: first do one step then the
second step.
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Story problem about measurement

 It rained for 40 days and 40 nights: How many months, weeks.

 At the lemonade stand, they use cups that can hold 100
milliliters of lemonade. If they pour 3 cups of lemonade, how
much lemonade is served in total?
 Mia has three pencils of different lengths. The blue pencil is 5
centimetres long, the red pencil is 7 centimetres long, and the
green pencil is 3 centimetres long. Which pencil is the longest,
and how much longer is it than the shortest pencil?
 Tim and Emma are building towers with blocks. Tim's tower is
12 blocks tall, and Emma's tower is 8 blocks tall. How much
taller is Tim's tower compared to Emma's?
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Cont…

 A caterpillar crawls along a branch. In 5 minutes, it crawls 12

centimeters. How far will the caterpillar crawl in 10 minutes?
 Sarah wakes up at 7 o'clock in the morning and takes 20
minutes to get ready for school. What time does Sarah leave
the house if she needs to catch the school bus at 7:40?
 Timmy goes to the park and plays for 1 hour and 15 minutes. If
he arrives at the park at 3:30 p.m., what time will it be when he
finishes playing?
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Cont…

 Mia has three fruits of different masses. The apple weighs 60

grams, the banana weighs 95 grams, and the orange weighs 80
grams. Which fruit is the heaviest, and how much heavier is it
than the lightest fruit?
 Erasy and Emma have toy cars of different masses. Tim's toy
car weighs 90 grams, and Emma's toy car weighs 70 grams.
How much heavier is Tim's toy car compared to Emma's?
 Create a relevant story problem about time.
 Create relevant story problems about data handling and
geometry.
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Story problems that will assist
learners to discover a pattern

 Story problems that involve discovering a pattern can be

engaging and insightful for learners. These problems
encourage students to observe relationships and identify
repeating structures.
 Here are some examples of story problems that help learners
discover patterns:
 Mia is organizing a birthday party, and she needs to blow up
some balloons. She starts with 2 balloons and blows up 2 more
every minute. How many balloons will Mia have after 5
minutes? What pattern do you notice in the number of balloons
as time increases?
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Examples cont…

 Johnny is skipping stones in a pond. On his first throw, the

stone skips 2 times. Each time he throws the stone, it skips one
more time than the previous throw. If Johnny throws the stone
five times, how many skips will it make on the fifth throw?
What pattern can you identify in the number of skips?
 In a garden, a flower grows 1 centimetre every day. After 7
days, the flower is 7 centimetres tall. If it keeps growing at the
same rate, how tall will the flower be after 20 days? Can you
spot the pattern in the height of the flower as the days pass?
 48
Story problem on data handling

 Story problems about data handling in early grades help students

understand the basics of collecting, organizing, and interpreting
data. These problems can involve simple counting, graphing, and
comparing data. Here are some examples of data handling story
problems suitable for early grades:
 In a class of 20 students, the teacher asked each student about their
favorite color. The results are as follows: 5 students like blue, 8
students like red, and the rest like green. How many students like
green?
 In a pre-primary class, the teacher conducted a fruit survey. She
found that 6 students like apples, 7 students like bananas, and 5
students like oranges. Which fruit is the most popular among the
students?
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Examples cont…

 Over a week, a class recorded the weather each day. The

results are as follows: 2 sunny days, 3 cloudy days, and 2 rainy
days. How many days were not sunny?
 At a local park, children were asked about their pets. Out of 15
children, 4 had dogs, 3 had cats, and 2 had birds. The rest of
the children didn't have any pets. How many children didn't
have any pets?
 In a first-grade class, the teacher asked students how they
come to school. Out of 25 students, 12 come by bus, 8 come
by car, and the rest come on bicycles. How many students
come on bicycles?
 50
Problem solving on geometry

 Story problems about geometry in early grades introduce basic

geometric concepts, such as shapes, sizes, and spatial
relationships, in a fun and relatable way. These problems
encourage students to apply their understanding of geometry in
real-life situations.
 Examples of geometry story 51
problems suitable for early grades:

 Timmy is building with blocks. He used 4 rectangular blocks

and 3 triangular blocks to create a structure. How many blocks
did Timmy use in total?
 Emily's dad is building a fence around their garden. He needs 8
fence panels, each shaped like a square, to complete the fence.
How many sides will the entire garden fence have?
 In the bakery, there are cupcakes with different shapes on top.
There are 5 cupcakes with star-shaped toppings, 3 cupcakes
with heart-shaped toppings, and 2 cupcakes with circle-shaped
toppings. How many cupcakes are there in total?
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Examples cont…

 On Emma's birthday, her mom made a birthday cake shaped

like a rectangle. Emma wanted to add candles on top of the
cake in the shape of circles. If she added 6 candles, how many
sides does the cake have in total?
 In the parking lot, there are 6 cars parked in the shape of a
square and 4 cars parked in the shape of a circle. How many
cars are there in the parking lot in total?
 At a pizza party, there are 8 pizza slices shaped like triangles
and 6 pizza slices shaped like rectangles. How many pizza
slices are there in all?
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References

 Kamii, C., & Joseph, L.L. (2004). Young children continue to reinvent
arithmetic 2nd grade: Implications of Piaget’s theory. New York: Teachers
College Press.
 Lester, F.K.Jr., Masingila, J.O., Mau, S.T., Lambdin, D.V., dos Santon, V.M.
and Raymond, A.M. (1994). 'Learning how to teach via problem solving'.
in Aichele, D. and Coxford, A. (Eds.) Professional Development for
Teachers of Mathematics , pp. 152-166. Reston, Virginia: NCTM.
 Polya, G. (1973).How To Solve It. New York:Princeton University Press.
 Kleopas, E. (2020). Challenges of Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving
Skills. [Master’s thesis, University of Namibia]. University of Namibia;
Windhoek. https://repository.unam.edu.na/handle/11070/2800