Mathematical Thinking and Problem Solving

Mathematical Thinking and Problem Solving PDF Author: Alan H. Schoenfeld
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113544093X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the early 1980s there was virtually no serious communication among the various groups that contribute to mathematics education -- mathematicians, mathematics educators, classroom teachers, and cognitive scientists. Members of these groups came from different traditions, had different perspectives, and rarely gathered in the same place to discuss issues of common interest. Part of the problem was that there was no common ground for the discussions -- given the disparate traditions and perspectives. As one way of addressing this problem, the Sloan Foundation funded two conferences in the mid-1980s, bringing together members of the different communities in a ground clearing effort, designed to establish a base for communication. In those conferences, interdisciplinary teams reviewed major topic areas and put together distillations of what was known about them.* A more recent conference -- upon which this volume is based -- offered a forum in which various people involved in education reform would present their work, and members of the broad communities gathered would comment on it. The focus was primarily on college mathematics, informed by developments in K-12 mathematics. The main issues of the conference were mathematical thinking and problem solving.

Mathematical Thinking and Problem Solving

Mathematical Thinking and Problem Solving PDF Author: Alan H. Schoenfeld
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113544093X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 303

Get Book Here

Book Description
In the early 1980s there was virtually no serious communication among the various groups that contribute to mathematics education -- mathematicians, mathematics educators, classroom teachers, and cognitive scientists. Members of these groups came from different traditions, had different perspectives, and rarely gathered in the same place to discuss issues of common interest. Part of the problem was that there was no common ground for the discussions -- given the disparate traditions and perspectives. As one way of addressing this problem, the Sloan Foundation funded two conferences in the mid-1980s, bringing together members of the different communities in a ground clearing effort, designed to establish a base for communication. In those conferences, interdisciplinary teams reviewed major topic areas and put together distillations of what was known about them.* A more recent conference -- upon which this volume is based -- offered a forum in which various people involved in education reform would present their work, and members of the broad communities gathered would comment on it. The focus was primarily on college mathematics, informed by developments in K-12 mathematics. The main issues of the conference were mathematical thinking and problem solving.

Mathematical Problem Solving

Mathematical Problem Solving PDF Author: ALAN H. SCHOENFELD
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 1483295486
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 426

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book is addressed to people with research interests in the nature of mathematical thinking at any level, topeople with an interest in "higher-order thinking skills" in any domain, and to all mathematics teachers. The focal point of the book is a framework for the analysis of complex problem-solving behavior. That framework is presented in Part One, which consists of Chapters 1 through 5. It describes four qualitatively different aspects of complex intellectual activity: cognitive resources, the body of facts and procedures at one's disposal; heuristics, "rules of thumb" for making progress in difficult situations; control, having to do with the efficiency with which individuals utilize the knowledge at their disposal; and belief systems, one's perspectives regarding the nature of a discipline and how one goes about working in it. Part Two of the book, consisting of Chapters 6 through 10, presents a series of empirical studies that flesh out the analytical framework. These studies document the ways that competent problem solvers make the most of the knowledge at their disposal. They include observations of students, indicating some typical roadblocks to success. Data taken from students before and after a series of intensive problem-solving courses document the kinds of learning that can result from carefully designed instruction. Finally, observations made in typical high school classrooms serve to indicate some of the sources of students' (often counterproductive) mathematical behavior.

Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Problem Solving

Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Problem Solving PDF Author: Marilyn A. Reba
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1482297930
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 601

Get Book Here

Book Description
A Classroom-Tested, Alternative Approach to Teaching Math for Liberal Arts Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Problem Solving: An Introduction to Mathematical Thinking uses puzzles and paradoxes to introduce basic principles of mathematical thought. The text is designed for students in liberal arts mathematics courses. Decision-making situations that progress

Teaching Mathematics Through Problem-Solving

Teaching Mathematics Through Problem-Solving PDF Author: Akihiko Takahashi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000359867
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 159

Get Book Here

Book Description
This engaging book offers an in-depth introduction to teaching mathematics through problem-solving, providing lessons and techniques that can be used in classrooms for both primary and lower secondary grades. Based on the innovative and successful Japanese approaches of Teaching Through Problem-solving (TTP) and Collaborative Lesson Research (CLR), renowned mathematics education scholar Akihiko Takahashi demonstrates how these teaching methods can be successfully adapted in schools outside of Japan. TTP encourages students to try and solve a problem independently, rather than relying on the format of lectures and walkthroughs provided in classrooms across the world. Teaching Mathematics Through Problem-Solving gives educators the tools to restructure their lesson and curriculum design to make creative and adaptive problem-solving the main way students learn new procedures. Takahashi showcases TTP lessons for elementary and secondary classrooms, showing how teachers can create their own TTP lessons and units using techniques adapted from Japanese educators through CLR. Examples are discussed in relation to the Common Core State Standards, though the methods and lessons offered can be used in any country. Teaching Mathematics Through Problem-Solving offers an innovative new approach to teaching mathematics written by a leading expert in Japanese mathematics education, suitable for pre-service and in-service primary and secondary math educators.

Mathwise

Mathwise PDF Author: Arthur A. Hyde
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Publishers
ISBN: 9780435083113
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 232

Get Book Here

Book Description
Mathwise, written especially for teachers in grades three through six, introduces teachers to a broad view of what it means for students to do mathematics. Arthur and Pamela Hyde explore the powerful kinds of mathematical thinking that students are capable of doing and offer exciting approaches, methods, and strategies for teaching that will foster this capability. By building a bridge between students' lives and the key concepts of the curriculum, Mathwise helps teachers make mathematics a meaningful part of their students' world.

Mathematical Thinking

Mathematical Thinking PDF Author: John P. D'Angelo
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780134689579
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
For one/two-term courses in Transition to Advanced Mathematics or Introduction to Proofs. Also suitable for courses in Analysis or Discrete Math. This title is part of the Pearson Modern Classics series. Pearson Modern Classics are acclaimed titles at a value price. Please visit www.pearsonhighered.com/math-classics-series for a complete list of titles. This text is designed to prepare students thoroughly in the logical thinking skills necessary to understand and communicate fundamental ideas and proofs in mathematics-skills vital for success throughout the upperclass mathematics curriculum. The text offers both discrete and continuous mathematics, allowing instructors to emphasize one or to present the fundamentals of both. It begins by discussing mathematical language and proof techniques (including induction), applies them to easily-understood questions in elementary number theory and counting, and then develops additional techniques of proof via important topics in discrete and continuous mathematics. The stimulating exercises are acclaimed for their exceptional quality.

Street-Fighting Mathematics

Street-Fighting Mathematics PDF Author: Sanjoy Mahajan
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262265591
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 152

Get Book Here

Book Description
An antidote to mathematical rigor mortis, teaching how to guess answers without needing a proof or an exact calculation. In problem solving, as in street fighting, rules are for fools: do whatever works—don't just stand there! Yet we often fear an unjustified leap even though it may land us on a correct result. Traditional mathematics teaching is largely about solving exactly stated problems exactly, yet life often hands us partly defined problems needing only moderately accurate solutions. This engaging book is an antidote to the rigor mortis brought on by too much mathematical rigor, teaching us how to guess answers without needing a proof or an exact calculation. In Street-Fighting Mathematics, Sanjoy Mahajan builds, sharpens, and demonstrates tools for educated guessing and down-and-dirty, opportunistic problem solving across diverse fields of knowledge—from mathematics to management. Mahajan describes six tools: dimensional analysis, easy cases, lumping, picture proofs, successive approximation, and reasoning by analogy. Illustrating each tool with numerous examples, he carefully separates the tool—the general principle—from the particular application so that the reader can most easily grasp the tool itself to use on problems of particular interest. Street-Fighting Mathematics grew out of a short course taught by the author at MIT for students ranging from first-year undergraduates to graduate students ready for careers in physics, mathematics, management, electrical engineering, computer science, and biology. They benefited from an approach that avoided rigor and taught them how to use mathematics to solve real problems. Street-Fighting Mathematics will appear in print and online under a Creative Commons Noncommercial Share Alike license.

Mathematical Problem Solving

Mathematical Problem Solving PDF Author: Peter Liljedahl
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030104729
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 361

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book contributes to the field of mathematical problem solving by exploring current themes, trends and research perspectives. It does so by addressing five broad and related dimensions: problem solving heuristics, problem solving and technology, inquiry and problem posing in mathematics education, assessment of and through problem solving, and the problem solving environment. Mathematical problem solving has long been recognized as an important aspect of mathematics, teaching mathematics, and learning mathematics. It has influenced mathematics curricula around the world, with calls for the teaching of problem solving as well as the teaching of mathematics through problem solving. And as such, it has been of interest to mathematics education researchers for as long as the field has existed. Research in this area has generally aimed at understanding and relating the processes involved in solving problems to students’ development of mathematical knowledge and problem solving skills. The accumulated knowledge and field developments have included conceptual frameworks for characterizing learners’ success in problem solving activities, cognitive, metacognitive, social and affective analysis, curriculum proposals, and ways to promote problem solving approaches.

Powerful Problem Solving

Powerful Problem Solving PDF Author: Max Ray
Publisher: Heinemann Educational Books
ISBN: 9780325050904
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
How can we break the cycle of frustrated students who "drop out of math" because the procedures just don't make sense to them? Or who memorize the procedures for the test but don't really understand the mathematics? Max Ray-Riek and his colleagues at the Math Forum @ Drexel University say "problem solved," by offering their collective wisdom about how students become proficient problem solvers, through the lens of the CCSS for Mathematical Practices. They unpack the process of problem solving in fresh new ways and turn the Practices into activities that teachers can use to foster habits of mind required by the Common Core: communicating ideas and listening to the reflections of others estimating and reasoning to see the "big picture" of a problem organizing information to promote problem solving using modeling and representations to visualize abstract concepts reflecting on, revising, justifying, and extending the work. Powerful Problem Solving shows what's possible when students become active doers rather than passive consumers of mathematics. Max argues that the process of sense-making truly begins when we create questioning, curious classrooms full of students' own thoughts and ideas. By asking "What do you notice? What do you wonder?" we give students opportunities to see problems in big-picture ways, and discover multiple strategies for tackling a problem. Self-confidence, reflective skills, and engagement soar, and students discover that the goal is not to be "over and done," but to realize the many different ways to approach problems. Read a sample chapter.

Introduction to Mathematical Thinking

Introduction to Mathematical Thinking PDF Author: Keith J. Devlin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780615653631
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Mathematical thinking is not the same as 'doing math'--unless you are a professional mathematician. For most people, 'doing math' means the application of procedures and symbolic manipulations. Mathematical thinking, in contrast, is what the name reflects, a way of thinking about things in the world that humans have developed over three thousand years. It does not have to be about mathematics at all, which means that many people can benefit from learning this powerful way of thinking, not just mathematicians and scientists."--Back cover.