PROBLEM SOLVING SHOULD BE FUN

LEA Q. ADIOVA

When dealing with students who are struggling with math, we should consider how we respond to their questions. When we spoon-feed them the answers, how could they learn? We should not rob them of learning opportunities.

Instead, let’s encourage them to answer their own questions. This teaches them to become resourceful and helps them deepen their thinking.

As they go along, they will be able to take the problem to a higher level or to help stuck students get out of their problem-solving dilemma.

Let them find all of the possible solutions and other ways they can get to the answer.

Students, to be able to develop mathematical communication skills, should work together and share their methods with others. It would be a good idea to pair strong students with weak ones.

A class discussion at the end of the lesson is also a great idea. Here, learners can justify the method they chose, emphasizing that any strategy is acceptable as long as there is sound reasoning behind it.

How else can we keep our students engaged? While deeper problems encourage deeper thinking, we can also give them easy problems to solve once in a while. We need to give them variety so they would not get tired of the l esson.

We can also try to vary the types of problems and the content we give our students to solve. Some problems never relate to the content they’re currently studying.

These tasks, done on a regular basis, will give students the practice they need. Let’s target the goal of students coming to class excited. Solving problems teach students patience and perseverance – and their teachers, too.

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The author is Secondary School Teacher I at Telacsan High School