Essential Question:

How can teaching through problem solving allow me to engage every student in my classroom and drive learning forward?

What does teaching through problem solving look like?

How did I myself learn math?

I don’t believe I ever really understood math until I began teaching it. Don’t get me wrong I always did very well in math! Often getting exceptions on all exams. Looking back now I was just ‘faking’ my actutal knowledge. Sure I could get the write answers, but I had no idea what I was doing. I started off in younger grades with memorization, memorization MEMORIZATION of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. Once I began high school and university math classes I continued to memorize. At this point I didn’t memorize the facts but the process. In order to solve certain math problems I would memorize the steps needed in order to solve it. I could easily then just plug in the numbers from the equations. I didn’t truly understand the basics until I was teaching the basics.

What does problem solving sound like in my classroom?

Collaboration Morning at St. Kateri

The Up Hill Battle…

I have enjoyed every part of this problem solving journey. Not only have my students grown but as a teacher I find myself being so much more confident. I love teaching through problems solving. My students have gained communication skills; they can explain their own ideas, express their feelings in an open non-threating way, listen carefully to others, can sense how others feel based on nonverbal communication and reflect on activities. I have witnessed my students being scared, excited, and frustrated all in the same 60 minute block.

Essential Question: In my grade 4 classroom I have found that by introducing hands on authentic problems allows me to reach more students. I have also noticed that the students that typically find math challenging were able to feel pieces of sucess during a variety of problems. Each and every students has something to offer in the problems that are chosen.

Now what?...

The Problems You'll See...

There are 12 people at Jordan's birthday party. 6 People are wearing socks and 4 people are wearing shoes, 3 people are wearing both. How many people are in bare feet?

The weather during Ms. Maynard's vacation was strange. It rained on 15 different days, but it never rained for a whole day.

- Rainy mornings were followed by clear afternoons.

- Rainy afternoons were proceeded by clear mornings.

- There were 12 clear mornings and and 13 clear afternoons in all.

Andre's Blue Ribbon Cars and Trucks is having a big sale. Mike and Don are setting up the lot. The boss gives them a diagram of the lot and these directions: 'put the 4-door car in front of the van. Put the jeep between the truck and and the van. Put the sportscar to the left of the 2-door and 4-door cars' How did Mike and Don set up the lot?

Pumpkin Picking

Allie was picking pumpkins for her school. She picked one

pumpkin on the first day. She picked two pumpkins on each of the next two days. Allie picked three pumpkins for three days. Next she picked four pumpkins a day for four days and so on.

• If Allie continues this pumpkin picking schedule, on what day will she

first pick 6 pumpkins?

• How many pumpkins will she have picked altogether for her school

when she completes that first 6th day?

Why teach through problem solving?

After reflection and speaking with fellow collegues here are a few reasons why problem solving is an esstial tool for student learning.

Solving rich and revelvant problems offer many entry points so that students can acheive given sufficent time and support.
Lessons structured in such a way to explore a students prior knowlegde first. I find this is extremely important when working on problems solving in elemntary. Problems can be tricky and wording can catch the students.
Students develop their own or groups solution to problems and this results in a deeper understanding of mathamatics invovled.
Having rotating random groups allows for all students to contribute.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS PERSEVERANCE A LOVE OF MATH!!!

Why Problem Solve?

Margret Taplin

Equipping students to meet challenges in life.
Developing general knowledge and common sense
Learning how to be discriminating in use of knowledge, that is to know what knowledge is appropriate to use for what purposes.
Intregrating what is leanred with the whole being
Arousing attention and interest in the field of knowledge so it will be mastered in a worthy way.

What is the Value?

Teaching through problem solving has a time and a place; but with commitment to finding good enagaging problems comes with great reward. Presenting a problem and developing the skills needed to solve that problem is more motivational that teaching the basics without context. It allows to students to dive into math, take risks and perservere through the good and bad. When I saw them working on problems it was a time as a teacher to fully see their thinking and for the first time they weren't running to me asking "is this right??". Problem solving forces students to adapt to unframilar and or unpredictable situations that expand their overal understanding.

Refrences:

Bohan, H., Irby, B. & Vogel, D. (1995). 'Problem solving: dealing with data in the elementary school'. Teaching Children Mathematics 1(5), pp.256-260.

Pennant, J.( 2013). ' Developing a CLassroom Culture that Supports Problem Solving Approach to Mathematics'

Click Here

Creating the Culture

Before starting this cohort I was unaware of what a well picked problem contained. Yes, I did problems within my classroom. We would read the problem together, talk about the question underline the important details, and then TA DA solve the problem. It wasn't until I began teaching "THROUGH" problem solving that I truly understood what benefits it would hold. While going through the problem solving process with my class, I soon began to realize that some groups were very successful while others didn't have a clue. A big challenge for me was guiding my students through the problem solving process without giving away a strategy. It was difficult to have thoughtful advice without giving the problem away.