Abstract
Elementary, middle-grades, and secondary preservice teachers engaged in mathematics methods courses whose focus was problem solving interacted with non-routine problems during the semester-long. To assess the efficacy of the problem-solving focus, the preservice teachers were given a non-routine problem at the beginning of the course and the same non-routine problem at the end of the course. Although some growth in problem solving strategies was seen, there was no increase in the number of correct answers to the problem. The findings indicate no significance between the math background or efficacy of the preservice teachers on their effective use of problem solving skills. However, positive changes were noted in students' attitude and interest in problem solving. In light of the data collected, the capacity of a single math methods course to build the problem solving skills of preservice teachers to a level where they are comfortable using and teaching these skills is shown to be limited.
Recommended Citation
Bradley, Gary
(2015)
"Building Problem Solving Skills,"
Teacher Education Journal of South Carolina: Vol. 8:
No.
1, Article 10.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/tejsc/vol8/iss1/10