Transcript Math for Elementary Teachers Chapter 1: Problem-Solving Math for Elementary Teachers - Kinholt.

Math for Elementary Teachers
Chapter 1: Problem-Solving
Math for Elementary Teachers - Kinholt
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Polya’s 10 Commandments
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Be interested in your subject.
Know your subject.
Try to read the faces of your
students: try to see their
expectations and difficulties; put
yourself in their place.
Realize that the best way to learn
anything is to discover it by yourself.
Give your students not only
information, but also know-how,
mental attitudes, the habit of
methodical work.
Let them learn guessing.
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Math for Elementary Teachers - Kinholt
Let them learn proving.
Look out for such features of the
problem at hand as may be
useful in solving the problems to
come – try to disclose the
general pattern that lies behind
the present concrete situation.
Do not give away your whole
secret at once – let the students
guess before you tell it – let
them find out by themselves as
much as is feasible.
Suggest it; do not force it down
their throats.
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Exercise vs. Problem
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EXERCISE
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apply a “routine” procedure
helps you learn concepts, properties, procedures
which will be needed for......
PROBLEM
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pause, reflect, be creative
you must WANT to solve a problem
there must be a question
No given procedure
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Polya’s 4-Steps
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Understand the Problem
Devise a Plan
Carry Out the Plan
Look Back
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Strategies from Chapter 1
Guess and Check
 Use a Variable
 Draw a Picture
 Look for a Pattern
 Make a List
 Solve a Simpler Problem
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Things to Think About
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How can you make problem-solving
come alive? Can you think of ways to
animate a problem?
What will parents think of problemsolving?
Where does problem-solving occur?
Consider having your students place a
problem “in their pocket”!
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Things to Think About
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Would you ever give your students a
problem that you don’t know how to
solve?
Are all problems appropriate for tests?
If not, how would you evaluate your
student’s problem-solving abilities?
How much time should you give your
students to solve a problem?
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Problem-Solving Games
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Dice Games
Come Into My Circle
This is a Kibbit. Is this a Kibbit?
Want to Come to My Picnic?
Hula Hoop Sorting
Linear Patterns With Buttons
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