PROBLEM SOLVING IN SCHOOL MATHEMATICS BASED ON HEURISTIC STRATEGIES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7160/eriesj.2014.070101Keywords:
Problem Solving, Solving Strategies, Strategy of Analogy, Graphical Representation, Systematic Experimentation, Strategy of Reformulation, Way BackAbstract
The paper describes one of the ways of developing pupils’ creative approach to problem solving. The described experiment is a part of a longitudinal research focusing on improvement of culture of problem solving by pupils. It deals with solving of problems using the following heuristic strategies: Analogy, Guess – check – revise, Systematic experimentation, Problem reformulation, Solution drawing, Way back and Use of graphs of functions. Most attention is paid to the question whether short-term work, in this case only over the period of three months, can result in improvement of pupils’ abilities to solve problems whose solving algorithms are easily accessible. It also answers the question which strategies pupils will prefer and with what results. The experiment shows that even short-term work can bear positive results as far as pupils’ approach to problem solving is concerned.
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