UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION

PROGRAM:

MASTER OF MATHEMATICS (MATHEMATICS EDUCATION)

COURSE CODE: 806S

COURSE TITLE:

ADVANCED STUDY IN BASIC SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

LECTURER:

PROF. D. K. MEREKU

TERM PAPER:

EMPHASIZING ON PROBLEM SOLVING APPROACH IN THE TEACHING OF

MATHEMATICS- THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER.

A SPEECH TO BE DELIVERED AT THE IN-SERVICE TRAINING FOR

MATHEMATICS TEACHERS SEFWI JUABOSO(JUABOSO DISTRICT)

REG.NO: ED/MTE/13/0018.
DATE: 31TH JULY, 2014
The greatest treasure and asset of a nation are its educational institutions. They make or mar the
destiny of that nation. Education is considered as one of the most important tools for national
development, “it is an end in itself and a means for achieving other goals of development, such
as economic growth, poverty reduction” (Glewwe and Ilias, 1996:395). The strength of a nation
is built on human resources developed by its educational institutions which train the brains,
provide skills and open a new world of opportunities and possibilities to the nation for economic
growth, social justice and poverty alleviation. According to Okuma-Nyström (2003) it is
impossible to find a country anywhere in the world without any form of educational system. In
all educational systems, students are introduced to a variety of subjects in all disciplines and
programmes for both academic and professional purposes. However, mathematics holds a key
position in the school curriculum and in virtually all countries it is a core component of the
school curriculum. It is also seen as a pivotal subject, both in its own right, and also because of
its important connections in diverse fields such as the natural sciences, engineering, medicine,
and the social sciences (Keith, 2000). It is upon this that, reflections on the importance of
mathematics and the process of mathematics teaching and learning has been a long-standing
issue in almost every part of the world for some time now (Törner and Sriraman 2006).
Similarly, according to Blum (2002) the importance of mathematics in all realms of life and the
recent debate on the falling standards of students’ achievement in mathematics has triggered the
growing attention for researchers, parents and education authorities in their quest for the way
forward over the last two decades. For example, to most parents, and educators they believe that,
a good results in mathematics is not only a good measure for entering into institution of higher
learning and getting a good program, but also a requirement for most jobs. In view of this
important role that mathematics plays in all realms of lives, college/high school students’ have
been spending hundreds of hours in mathematics classes both at school and at home to pass their
mathematics examinations.

However, according to, Agudelo-Valderrama (1996) most students are not successful in
achieving this and a number of students still find it difficult entering institution of higher
learning due to poor grades in mathematics. He further added that, the way mathematics is
conceived, taught and learnt has not only contributed to many students not realizing their full
potential but most students not realizing the importance of the mathematics they learn at school
since they are not able apply what they have learnt to their real life situations. Again, he added
that it is not surprising we often hear many students asking questions like: where will I use this
kind of mathematics? What are we learning this for? In view of this, improving mathematics
teaching and learning has been an issue of considerable concern in almost every part of the
world, and the teaching and learning of mathematics has been undergoing through a number of
restructuring coupled with the introduction of new school curriculum and new teaching methods.
The evolution of these new school curriculum and its accompanied new teaching methods is
rooted in finding ways of empowering students to learn to do mathematics (Thomasenia, 2000).
In addition to this, many researchers have advocated for the need for a holistic view of changing
the teaching-learning process of school subjects from a teacher centered with its accompanying
rote learning to a transformative method which can help students to generate their own meaning
and understanding of mathematical concepts. To achieve this, the government of Ghana and
other stakeholders in the education sector has taken a number of initiatives in promoting
effective teaching and learning of the subject.

Historically, learning mathematics and teaching it to all students at the school stage has been
motivated by the belief that a study of mathematics helps students to learn to reason and apply
such reasoning to everyday problems. It is believed that learning mathematics leads to learners’
cognitive development. Thus, one of the important questions that all mathematics educators must
constantly ask themselves is: Does the mathematics that we teach and that our students learn lead
to an enhancement of students’ cognitive abilities.

It has been emphatically stated clear in the general aims of the mathematics syllabus that, the aim
of teaching mathematics is to help children appreciate the value of mathematics and its
usefulness to them, to develop confidence in their own mathematical ability, to foster a sense of
personal achievement and to encourage a continuing and creative interest in mathematics. Again
to help children develop the skills, concepts, understandings and attitudes which will enable
them to cope confidently with the mathematics of everyday life and also help children to develop
a variety of problem solving strategies involving mathematics and develop the ability to think
and reason logically as well as to help children become mathematically literate in a world which
is information technology (IT) oriented then to provide a foundation for those children who may
wish to further their studies in mathematics or other subjects where mathematical concepts are
essential. Now the question is does our teaching reflect on the above aims. If it does not then
what theory are we using to teach our students?

The deeper understanding that we are looking for must enable students to look at and understand
a new situation, delve into the repertoire of mathematical knowledge that they have in terms of
concepts, processes, and ideas and adapt or modify those ideas so as to apply them towards
resolving a new problem situation. Such understanding calls for building deep connections
between concepts, a variety of lenses and representations with which to view the concepts, and
flexibility that allows one to sufficiently modify concepts so as to apply them to a new situation.
It requires students to develop a rich network of ideas that one may draw from when faced with a
novel situation. In this process, students develop habits of the mind that enable them to analyze
other situations that they may encounter in life, mathematical or otherwise. This critical blend of
processes is what mathematics educators refer to as problem-solving. It is this kind of cognitive
development that most modern societies would like their citizens to develop. And this seeks to
addresses the question: How can student are taught problem-solving in the mathematics
classroom? More importantly, can students’ beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning be
influenced via the teaching of a course in problem-solving? What strategies might promote this
belief?

Problem solving is the process of working through details of a problem to reach a solution. They
must then read the problem carefully, analyze it for whatever information it has, and examine
their own mathematical knowledge to see if they can come up with a strategy that will help them
find a solution. The process forces the reorganization of existing ideas and the emergence of new
ones as students work on problems with the help of a teacher who acts as a facilitator by asking
questions that help students to review their knowledge and construct new connections.

As the new knowledge is embedded into existing cognitive frameworks, the result is an
enrichment of the network of ideas through understanding. Teaching mathematics via problem
solving seems like an attractive proposition, but while examining the seminal work done in this
field, researchers driven by constructivist frameworks were forced to step back. As they
developed linkages between theoretical research and practice in the field, they were forced to
examine the question: How does one implement the process of teaching mathematics via
problem solving? This question was related to the deeper question of changing the attitudes and
beliefs of students who viewed mathematics as a bunch of definitions and algorithms that exist in
isolation. Researchers suggest that the problem lies with students’ classroom experiences
wherein students find little scope or motivation for them to learn how to reason. Scholars argue
that it is not appropriate to merely teach students how to reason. What is important is to build a
case for students to learn to reason. That is, before we can teach students to reason, we must
persuade them to feel the need to reason. Current scholarly thinking in problem solving has thus
focused on the need to change students’ attitudes and beliefs about mathematics

Mathematics is a universal subject of study and occupies key position in school curriculum
worldwide. It is therefore no surprising that the aims of mathematics education in Ghana at all
levels centered on the use of mathematics for solving problems that the learner might encounter
in their daily life. Problem solving in mathematics curriculum is not a topic to be covered like
algebra, construction, numbers and numeracy but rather teachers are to incorporate problem
solving activities in all the topics delineated by the curriculum during their mathematics lessons.
NCTM (2000) advocates that problem solving is the heart of doing school mathematics. It
provides an important context for understanding and for developing critical skills for analysis
and making sense of things to make life more interesting and enjoyable. Therefore, all teachers
and respective mathematics textbook or resource materials are expected to include appropriate
and realistic problems that will require mathematical reasoning rather than mere recall and use of
standard algorithms in their instructions. This makes a problem solving the primary goal of
mathematics instructions and an integral part of every mathematics activity in the classroom.
The role of problem solving in mathematics instruction should change from being activity that
children engage in after they have studied concepts and skills to being a means of acquiring new
mathematical knowledge.

Problem solving involves memory, attention and perception. These higher cognitive processes
are used to search for a solution to a given problem or reach a goal. They differ according to the
problem solver’s knowledge, experience and skills. Generally, the problem is: (i) identify the
initial state, (ii) represent actions to reach the goal state, and (iii) the course of actions to reach
the solution. Studies have shown that teachers perceived constraints of problem solving practices
identified textbooks assessment regimes and limited time constraints as impediments to the
teaching of mathematics through problem solving. Again, another barrier for teachers to integrate
problem solving in mathematics lessons is the quest to pass examination and the teaching
methods. Remember, the traditional textbooks do not often meet problem solving criteria as the
textbook present very few non-routine problem solving questions with no option to choose.
Another area that affects the teaching of mathematics through problem solving is the school
culture. The culture of a school hinders teachers planning approaches and thereby places a major
barrier to the implementing educational innovations. In addition to that, in school so many things
compete with time and so teachers believe that teaching of problem solving demands a lot of
time and resources which the school culture has no control of, teachers will resort to their
traditional teaching.

However, having an ideal to incorporate problem solving meaningfully in the mathematics

curriculum is a problem to some mathematics teachers despite the innovative measures put in
place by some researchers such as behaviorist, cognitive, constructivist and so on. It should be
noted that, when researchers use the term problem solving, then they are referring to
mathematical task that has the ability give intellectual challenges that can enhance students’
mathematical development. Such task can promote students’ conceptual understanding, foster
their ability to reason and communicate mathematically, and capture their interests and curiosity.
Although the teaching of mathematics through problem solving consumes time it should also be
noted that problem solving helps students to think critically, being flexible and also becomes
creative. Problem solving problems are mostly open-ended thus; it does not provide factual
answers and that students cannot guess of the answer and so they are require to thinking deeply
before tackling it. This means that students are giving the opportunity to explore their ideas and
so it gives them the mandate to extend their creativity. In fact, problem solving approach in
mathematics lessons does not only look at who is good in the subject but it gives room for every
student to come out with an idea even the weak ones are coming out with ideals that are fruitful,
thereby all of them coming up with a concept that have not been taught in the class before,
allowing them to think critically. However, a student who is able to solve problem solving
problems is able to detect inconsistencies and common mistakes through reasoning and then
solve the said problems systematically thereby identifying the relevance and importance of ideas
by reflecting on the justification of one’s own beliefs and values. Currently much credence is
being given to a theory of learning called constructivism. In constructivism knowledge
construction is emphasized rather than knowledge reproduction. Knowledge construction helps
the learners to remember what they have learned. 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 namely, 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.

Problem solving even though there are no textbooks and inadequate activities in curriculum
resources material it should also be noted that it promotes cooperative learning skills.
Cooperative learning is characterized by small groups of learners working together as a team to
solve a problem, complete a task, or accomplish a common goal. Traditionally, mathematics has
been taught to individuals working by themselves. Very little motivation has been given to
cooperative working in the traditional approach method of teaching mathematics. There has not
been the emphasis on students 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
student produce original ideas. So emphasizing group work in problem solving appears to
increase enjoyment, learning and social skills such as communication. Students are more willing
to solve challenging problems as a group and are often able to explain things to each other in
ways that make more sense than the teacher’s original explanation. Students are more willing to
ask questions and take risks in small groups rather than being passive and they always want to
invest in mathematics discourse (Lord, 2001).

However, cooperative learning often works best if the team members are not of the same level in
mathematics. One or two members of the group should be more knowledgeable than the others.
That way, the more capable student is advancing by teaching the concept while others are
advancing by engaging with the problem and wrestling with the solution. It’s also important that
the teacher use flexible grouping throughout the school year so that each student is challenged
appropriately and rotates the role of being the expert. When classrooms achieve this balance, all
students have the opportunity to learn within their zone of proximal development. Again, it
encourages positive attitudes. Thus students when asked to solve problems seem to enjoy the
problems, and get quite involved with them so some students work through their breaks in order
to settle a problem. It helps them to gain a positive attitude towards the subject. A good problem
solver has a strong belief that academic reasoning problems can be solved through careful,
persistent analysis. He beliefs that the way to work the problems may not at first be obvious but
through carefully breaking the problems down, by pinpointing first one piece of information and
then another, a difficult problem can be gradually analyzed. Problem solving helps students to
take great care to understand the facts and relationships in a problem fully and accurately. They
are almost compulsive in checking whether their understanding of a problem is correct and
complete. It once again helps students to avoid guessing.

Furthermore, teachers’ incompetence and their beliefs should not affect the teaching and learning
of mathematics but they should rather know that problem solving helps student to get greater
understanding of the mathematical concepts. For students to understand and work with
mathematical concepts successfully, they must understand the concepts of classification,
conservation, seriation, ordering and one-to-one correspondence. They must have a great variety
of interactions with their environment, exploring and manipulating, comparing, arranging and
rearranging real objects and sets of objects through problem solving and many of these types of
interactions and experiences occur incidentally. Thus, in the process of struggling with a
problem, student 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 students in the class.

In conclusion, it should not be a foregone conclusion that, working with interests often results in
the identification of more possible solutions than were originally considered and by "expanding
the pie", we end up with fair agreements that potentially meet more of our needs and are "win-
win" rather than "win-lose" Creates greater satisfaction for all of the parties and promotes a
foundation for future problem solving that is respectful and energizing rather than negative and
depleting. As teachers, advance preparation is an important, though often ignored aspect of
collaborative problem solving. Our lives are already incredibly busy. Often preparations may be
limited to figuring out your position and what you will settle for. Preparing for a successful
collaborative problem solving session requires addressing a number of different areas. Your
position as teacher represents your solution to a problem. Interests are the underlying need, want,
or desire that we are trying to satisfy with our position. Let us all join hands by integrating
problem solving approach in the teaching and learning of mathematics.

THANK YOU
Reference

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Adentunde, I. A. (2007). Improving the teaching and learning of mathematics in second cycle

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Keith, J. (2000). The student experience of mathematical proof at University level: International

Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 31 (1), No. 1, 53-60

Törner G. & Sriraman B., (2006). A brief historical comparison of tendencies in Mathematics

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Agudela-Valderrama. (1996). Improving mathematics education in Columbian schools:

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Thomasenia, A., (2000). Helping students to learn and do mathematics through multiple

intelligences and standards for school mathematics. Childhood Education, 77(2): 86- 103

NCTM (2000). Integrating Content to Create Problem-Solving Opportunities: Journal of

Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School Volume13, pp. 352-360

Lord, (2001). 101 Reasons for Using Cooperative Learning in Biology Teaching: The America

Biology Teacher 63(1) (Jan. 2001): 30-38.