Susan O'Connell has created a very teacher-friendly toolkit for anyone trying to enhance thinking and problem solving in their classroom. This book contains a slew of practical ideas and easy-to-use resources that give teachers everything they need to move from mere skills to skills that create powerful problem solvers.
—Steve Leinwand, Mathematics Consultant, Connecticut Department of Education
This teacher-friendly resource . . . is a balance of theory and practice.
—Teaching Children Mathematics
Problem solving is both the starting point and ending point of any well-balanced mathematics lesson. Skills lessons begin with a problem, a skill is then taught to help solve the problem, and the newly acquired skill enables students to find a solution. When we teach computational skills in a problem-solving context, not only will our students better understand the skill, they will understand why the skill is being studied and how to apply it to real-world situations.
Introduction to Problem Solving provides immediate help to anyone attempting to implement this kind of instruction in the elementary math classroom. Grounded in theory but replete with practical material, the book includes a rationale for teaching problem solving, discussions of the importance of writing, reflection, and assessment, specific teaching strategies, and teacher tips to reinforce each strategy. The appendix alone contains dozens of resources teachers can put to immediate use, including blackline masters of checklists, evaluation forms, scoring keys, as well as an assortment of practice problems for students of varying levels.
Although much has been written on problem solving, it’s difficult to find a book with the right balance of theory and practice. Introduction to Problem Solving provides a thorough grounding in both and will be a valuable resource for preservice and inservice teachers, mathematics specialists, and administrators attempting to strengthen their school or district’s problem-solving program.
