4/10/2017 7TipsforImprovingYourStudentsProblemSolvingSkills|KnowreMath

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7 Tips for Improving Your Students Problem Solving Skills NEWSLETTER

We all solve problems on a daily basis. Problem solving is not a skill that one is born with its cultivated over time with Enter your email address to subscribe
practice and experience. Doing math helps us to develop the analytical and critical thinking skills required to be a good to our newsletter and receive periodic
problem solver. In the last of our blog series of key learnings from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) updates about our products and
Conference in San Francisco, we explore strategies to help students improve their problem-solving skills. services.

We attended a session called Productive Struggle: Dierence Between Experienced and Inexperienced Problem Solvers, Email Address
moderated by Cindy Bryant, former Director of Missouri K-12 Mathematics, with over 30 years of teaching experience. During
the session, we learned that experienced problem solvers have a plan, take risks, and are not afraid to ask questions. Even if
they dont know how to solve the problem, they have a plan of how they would tackle that particular problem. On the other SUBSCRIBE
hand, inexperienced problem solvers get stuck. They become overwhelmed by the problem, often dont know how or where
to begin, and have no plan of action. Cindy Bryant summed it up succinctly: Inexperienced problem solvers dont know what
to do when they dont know what to do. Experienced problem solvers know what to do when they dont know what to do.
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How can you help students improve their problem solving skills? Below are tips shared by our Director of Marketing (who
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honed her problem-solving skills from her years working as a management consultant) as well as tips learned from the
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session at NCTM.

1. Dene the problem. It sounds easy enough, but inexperienced problem solvers often dont know what they are solving for Making Classroom Instruction Time
More Ecient
or what question is being asked. Remind students to read the question carefully and make sure they understand the
question.
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2. Identify what information is given and what information is missing. This helps students to determine what they need Exponents
to know in order to solve the problem.
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3. Ask questions. Encourage your students to ask questions that will help them ll in the gaps. The focus is to get additional Graphing
facts and/or be able to make reasonable assumptions that will help to solve the problem. Have students think through how
the additional information will help to change initial assumptions or hypotheses. Giving Teachers the Power of Choice:
Implementation of Digital Tools
4. Identify possible solutions. Encourage students to approach the solution in dierent ways and to talk through their
thought process out loud. Often times, the students are able to answer their own question as they talk it out and teachers are
able to understand their thought process and redirect as needed. Use props, draw pictures, write it out use any and all ARCHIVES
strategies that will help students ideate.
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5. Evaluate potential solutions and determine the answer. Encourage students to double check and ensure their solution
actually answers the original question. Reality check the answer to make sure it makes sense in the context of the original
question.
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6. Practice, practice, practice! Having a structured approach to problem solving is important but not sucient. Going Awards
through the process of solving problems will help build student condence as well as competence. Practice solving dierent
types of problems and choose problems that are engaging, relevant and interesting to your students. Here are some Back to School
resources to help students practice
Classroom
NRich Project, University of Cambridge
Using Low Threshold High Ceiling Tasks in Ordinary Classrooms, NRich Project
Data
You Cubed, Stanford University
Illuminations, NCTM
Education Policy
Visual Patterns
Alex Bellos Monday Puzzle
Education Technology
Brain Den
Math is Fun Formative Assessment

7. Celebrate the journey. Cindy Bryant stressed the need for teachers and students to remember that productive struggle is
Gamication
part of the learning process. Praise eort and encourage students to learn from mistakes so that students become
experienced problem solvers, become more comfortable with uncertainty and know how to tackle new problems.
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What strategies are you using in the classroom to encourage students to be better problem solvers? Share with us on Twitter,
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@Knowre.

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