The Meaning of Math Problem Solving.
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Even individuals who are good at math can reach a dead end when problem-solving. When a concept is translated into a word question or a mathematical sentence containing an unknown, most students get stuck. The reason is that problem solving requires students to select a strategy or strategies that are appropriate for the question deliberately. Not all individuals have metacognitive skills, but math problem-solving strategies can be taught. Below are some strategies for problem-solving.
Read and Reread the Question
Students will sometimes skip ahead as soon as they notice a familiar part of the question or give up on understanding it if the problem does not make sense initially. Students should learn to interpret a problem using self-monitoring strategies such as rereading the question slowly and keenly if it does not make sense at first glance, underlining or highlighting essential parts of the information, and asking for help.
Identify Essential and Irrelevant Information
Students often struggle to look past the irrelevant information and discover the type of problem in the sentence. Teachers should train students to sift and sort the math problem information to find what is relevant to solve it. They can also get math help services online to help solve them. The best way for students to learn to identify the relevant parts of a question is to ask them to exchange parts of the math question information to determine if the answer changes. If changing items, names, or scenarios do not impact the result, they realize that it is not the focal point when solving the problem.
Schema Approach
The schema approach is a math intervention strategy that can help students solve problems efficiently, irrespective of their abilities. It incorporates comparing different word problems similar to each other and developing a formula or a math sentence stem that will apply to them. For example, in the additional questions, it could be expressed as [Number or Quantity A] with [Number or Quantity B] added becomes [result]. Once students have a schema list for different math operations, such as additions, subtractions, and many more, they can apply them to unfamiliar word problems and find out which one is suitable.
Visualizing
Visualizing an abstract problem usually makes it easier to answer. Students can draw tally marks or pictures on workout papers to answer the questions. Visualizations can be encouraged by modeling them on a whiteboard and providing the students with graphic organizers withdrawing space for students to use before writing down the final answer.
Conclusion
In the end, problem-solving is about solving problems in real life. Problem-solving in mathematics has a broader goal, and education aims to equip students to solve problems. Therefore, in the math curriculum, problem-solving contributes to the general skill of problem-solving.
