Management of Problem Solving in a Classroom Context

Abstract

We report on the results of a professional development programme involving four Hungarian teachers of mathematics. The programme aims to support teachers in integrating problem solving into their classes. The basic principle of the programme, as well as its novelty (at least compared to Hungarian practice), is that the development takes place in the teacher’s classroom, adjusted to the teacher’s curriculum and in close cooperation between the teacher and researchers. The teachers included in the programme were supported by the researchers with lesson plans, practical teaching advice and lesson analyses. The progression of the teachers was assessed after the one-year programme based on a self-designed trial lesson, focusing particularly on how the teachers plan and implement problem-solving activities in lessons, as well as on their behaviour in the classroom during problem-solving activities. The findings of this qualitative research are based on video recordings of the lessons and on the teachers’ own reflections. We claim that the worked-out lesson plans and the self-reflection habits of the teachers contribute to the successful management of problem-solving activities.

The effect of problem-based learning on students’ learning outcomes

“…Csíkos [5] defines PBL in mathematics as requiring students to analyze mathematical problem situations, to critically approach their own and their peers' minds, and they must learn to explain and justify their reasoning (see also [13]).…”

The tradition of problem-posing in Hungarian mathematics teaching

“…Further research is needed to investigate current classroom practices of problem-posing in Hungarian classrooms. As a step in this direction, the author of this paper and his coworker Eszter Kónya have added problem-posing to the problem-based learning paradigm and looked into how problem-posing can be used to aid in teaching mathematics in a typical school setting (Kónya & Kovács, 2019, 2022Kovács & Kónya, 2021).…”