Mathematical Problem-Solving Heuristics Among Student Teachers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2018.110302Keywords:
cognitive, critical thinking, elaboration, metacognitive, organization, rehearsal, self-regulationAbstract
The main purpose of the study is to understand the mathematical problem-solving strategies among student teachers. This study used both quantitative and qualitative type of research. Aside from the semi-structured interviews, data were gathered through participant's actual mathematical problem-solving outputs and the videotaped interviews. Findings revealed that the problem-solving strategies among student teachers in the Problem-Solving subject are cognitive, metacognitive and other strategies. The cognitive strategies used by the student teachers are rehearsal, elaboration, and organization. The metacognitive strategies are critical thinking and self-regulation. Other strategies are overlapping the cognitive and metacognitive strategies. These are prediction/orientation, planning, monitoring, and evaluating. The findings also suggest a significant influence of the strategies to the academic performance of the student teachers.
References
Akyol, G., Sungur, S. and Tekkaya, C. (2010) ‘The contribution of cognitive and metacognitive strategy use to students' science achievement’, Educational Research and Evaluation, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611003672348
Brown, A.L. (1978) ‘Knowing when, where, and how to remember: A problem of metacognition’, In Glaser, R. (ed) Advances in Instructional Psychology, Vol. 1. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, [Online], Available: http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED146562.pdf [7 Jun 2011].
Carson, J. (2007) ‘A problem with problem-solving: teaching thinking without teaching knowledge’, The Mathematics Educator, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 7–14.
Cockcroft, W. (1982) Mathematics counts. Report of the committee of inquiry into the teaching of mathematics in schools, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, (ED.), [Online], Available: http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/cockcroft/ [10 Jul 2011].
Dendane, A. (2009) ‘Skills needed for mathematical problem solving’, [Online], Available: http://www.analyzemath.com/math_problems/paper_7.html [3 Apr 2011].
Dewey, J. (1933). ‘How we think’, Boston: D.C. Heath.
Glaser, B.G., and Strauss, A.L. (1967) ‘The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research’, Chicago: Aldine.
Goldman, S. and Booker, A. (2009) ‘Making math a definition of the situation: Families as sites for mathematical practices’, Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Vol. 40, No. 4, pp. 369-387. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1492.2009.01057.x
Gurat, M. and Medula, C. Jr. (2016) ‘Metacognitive strategy knowledge use through mathematical problem solving amongst student teachers’, American Journal of Educational Research, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 170-189. https://doi.org/10.12691/education-4-2-5
Halmos, P. (1980) ‘The heart of mathematics’, American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 87, No. 7, pp. 519-524. https://doi.org/10.2307/2321415
Hoon, T., Kee K. and Singh, P. (2013) ‘Learning mathematics using heuristics approach’, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 90, pp. 862-869. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.07.162
Koichu, B., Berman, A. and Moore, M. (2004) ‘Promotion of heuristic literacy in a regular mathematics classroom’, For the Learning of Mathematics, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 33-39.
Krawec, J., Huang, J., Montague, M., Kressler, B. and de Alba, A. (2012) ‘The effects of cognitive strategy instruction on knowledge of problem-solving processes of middle school students with learning disabilities’, Learning Disability Quarterly, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 80-92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0731948712463368
Krulik, S., and Rudnick, J.A. (1987) ‘Problem solving: A handbook for teachers’, (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Liu, E. and Lin C. (2010) ‘The survey study of mathematics motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (MMSLQ) for grade 10-12 Taiwanese’, The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 221-223.
Novotná, J., Eisenmann, P., Přibyl, J., Ondrušová, J. and Břehovský, J. (2014) ‘Problem solving in school mathematics based on heuristic strategies’, Journal on Efficiency and Responsibility in Education and Science, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2013.070101
Polya, G. (1988) ‘How to solve it: A new aspect of mathematical method’, (2nd ed.), Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Reiss, K. and Renkl, A. (2002) ‘Learning to prove: The idea of heuristic examples’, Zentralblatt für Didaktik der Mathematik (ZDM), Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 29-35. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02655690
Reys, E, Lindquist, Lambdin D.V., Smith, N.L. and Suydam, M.N. (2001) ‘Helping children learn mathematics’, (6th ed.), John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York.
Schoen, H.L. and Charles, R. I. (2003) ‘Teaching mathematics through problem solving’, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) catalog.
Schoenfeld, A. (1992) ‘Learning to think mathematically: Problem-solving, metacognition, and sense making in mathematics’, In D.A. Grouws (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning (pp. 165–197). MacMillan, New York.
Schurter, W. (2002) ‘Comprehension monitoring: an aid to mathematical problem solving’, Journal of Developmental Education, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 22-33.
Simsek, A. and Balaban, J. (2010) ‘Learning strategies of successful and unsuccessful university students’, Contemporary Educational Technology, Vol. 1. No. 1, pp. 36-45.
Simsek, A. (2006) ‘Bilissel stratejilerin ogretimi [Teaching cognitive strategies]’, In A. Simsek (Ed.), Icerik turlerine dayali ogretim (pp.181-208). Ankara: Nobel.
Stacey, K. (2005) ‘The place of problem solving in contemporary mathematics curriculum documents’, The Journal of Mathematical Behavior, Vol. 24, pp. 341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmathb.2005.09.004
Stanic, G. and Kilpatrick, J. (1989) ‘Historical Perspective on Problem Solving in the Mathematics Curriculum’, In R. Charles and E. Silver (Eds.), The teaching and assessing of mathematical problem solving (pp. 1-22), Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Strauss, A., and Corbin, J. (1998) ‘Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques’, (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
Wilson J., Fernandez M. and Hadaway, N. (2011) ‘Mathematical problem solving’, [Online], Available: http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/emt725/PSsyn/Pssyn.html [8 Aug 2011].
Additional Files
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors declare with this manuscript intended for publication to ERIES Journal that:
- all co-authors agree with the publication of the manuscript even after amendments arising from peer review;
- all co-authors agree with the posting of the full text of this work on the web page of ERIES Journal and to the inclusion of references in databases accessible on the internet;
- no results of other researchers were used in the submitted manuscript without their consent, proper citation, or acknowledgement of their cooperation or material provided;
- the results (or any part of them) used in the manuscript have not been sent for publication to any other journal nor have they already been published (or if so, that the relevant works are cited in this manuscript);
- submission of the manuscript for publication was completed in accordance with the publishing regulations pertaining to place of work;
- experiments performed comply with current laws and written consent of the Scientific Ethics Committee / National Animal Care Authority (as is mentioned in the manuscript submitted);
- grant holders confirm that they have been informed of the submitted manuscript and they agree to its publication.
Authors retain copyright and grant ERIES Journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the published work with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in ERIES Journal. Moreover, authors are able to post the published work in an institutional repository with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in ERIES Journal. In addition, authors are permitted and encouraged to post the published work online (e.g. institutional repositories or on their website) as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.