Activities: Extending Problem-Solving Skills

1985 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-44
Author(s):  
Robert A. Laing

Introduction: Recognizing that the mathematics curriculum in grades K-12 must include more than the concepts and skills of mathematics to prepare students to be productive and contributing members of a rapidly changing technological society, the Agenda for Action (NCTM 1980, 3, 4) recommends that problem solving be the focus of school mathematics in the 1980s.

1994 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-136
Author(s):  
Gary Kader ◽  
Mike Perry

In its Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989), the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommends that the K-12 mathematics curriculum be broadened and designates statistics as an area deserving increased attention. The standards document promotes the concept that statistics be learned through the study of real problems with real data collected by the students. Rather than focus on developing formulas from which answers are simply computed, teachers should present statistics in a coherent fashion and develop the topic as a whole problem-solving process.


Author(s):  
Tin Lam Toh ◽  
Chun Ming Eric Chan ◽  
Eng Guan Tay ◽  
Yew Hoong Leong ◽  
Khiok Seng Quek ◽  
...  

1981 ◽  
Vol 28 (8) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Jeremy Kilpatrick

The 1980s, so we are told, are to be the decade of “problem solving.” Ready or not, we are apparently destined to have problem solving as the “focus” of school mathematics for the next ten years or so. Toward this goal, the NCTM's An Agenda for Action recommends the organization of the mathematics curriculum around problem solving. How can one argue with such a sensible agenda?


1975 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-32
Author(s):  
Marilyn J. Zweng

Few topics in the elementary school mathematics curriculum are a greater waste of time than division of fractional numbers. It is seldom used to solve problems, and those problems which children are taught to solve by division of fractional numbers are dealt with just as adequately by resorting to multiplication.


1982 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-44
Author(s):  
Glenda Lappan ◽  
Elizabeth Phillips ◽  
M. J. Winter

With the publication of An Agenda for Action: Recommendations for School Mathematics of the 1980s, the NCTM has emphasized its support for helping students to develop and use problem-solving skills. The challenge for the teacher is to provide opportunities for the development of the e skill while teaching mathematical concept that comprise the basic curriculum. With the wide-spread availability of calculators, teachers have a tool that can be used to expand the study of many basic mathematical idea to include the development of problem-solving strategies. Calculations that would be so time consuming as to be impractical if they were done with paper and pencil, can be quickly done with a calculator.


1990 ◽  
Vol 83 (7) ◽  
pp. 510-512
Author(s):  
William S. Hadley

With the release of NCTM's curriculum standards in the spring of 1989, emphasis on mathematics-curriculum reform at all levels K-12 has been renewed. Reform is obviously long overdue, but one major obstacle stands in the way of its achievement: the classroom teachers. Given t he proper opportunities, however, teachers can become the key to success.


2003 ◽  
Vol 96 (8) ◽  
pp. 529

THE CALL FOR THIS FOCUS ISSUE BEGAN BY reminding readers that in 1980, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics made a strong case for including problem solving in the mathematics curriculum. Problem solving was not a new topic at that time—after all, George Pólya published his seminal work, How to Solve It, in 1945. However, the 1980 Agenda for Action publication marked the beginning of a period in mathematics education when the processes of problem solving received specific attention in the school mathematics curriculum. Problem solving became much more than solving word problems.


1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (7) ◽  
pp. 390-394
Author(s):  
Robyn Silbey

In An Agenda for Action, the NCTM asserted that problem solving must be at the heart of school mathematics (1980). Almost ten years later, the NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989) stated that the development of each student's ability to solve problems is essential if he or she is to be a productive citizen. The Standards assumed that the mathematics curriculum would emphasize applications of mathematics. If mathematics is to be viewed as a practical, useful subject, students must understand that it can be applied to various real-world problems, since most mathematical ideas arise from the everyday world. Furthermore, the mathematics curriculum should include a broad range of content and an interrelation of that content.


2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-108
Author(s):  
Carol E. Malloy ◽  
D. Bruce Guild

IN WHAT WAYS WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR middle-grades students to experience problem solving in the mathematics curriculum? Do you want the curriculum to capture the excitement of geometry and measurement, algebra, statistics, and number relationships? Do you want it to help students understand and build new mathematical knowledge and explore new mathematical relationships? Do you want the curriculum to be filled with opportunities for students to ponder, create, and critique arguments about mathematics? If this is your vision for your students, then you should be pleased with, and excited by, the Problem Solving Standard in Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 2000).


1990 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-10
Author(s):  
Sue Brown

In 1980, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics stated that “problem solving must be the focus of school mathematics.” In 1989 the Council reaffirmed that belief with the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (Standards). Standard 1 for grades K–12 is “Mathematics as Problem Solving.” The Standards also asserts that “a computer should be available in every classroom for demonstration purposes, and every student should have access to a computer for individual and group work.” Also according to the Standards, “manipulative materials are necessary for good mathematics instruction.” In a typical classroom, problem solving may be taught, manipulative materials may be used, or students may be working at a computer. These functions, however, are usually completed as disjoint activities. Integrating these activities is possible, and this article illustrates how it can be done.


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