ResearchIntoPractice MATHematics

The Role of Problem Solving

in High School Mathematics
Reaching All Students
Problem solving has been the focus of a substantial number of research
studies over the past thirty years. It is well beyond the scope of this paper to
even attempt to summarize this body of research. Those interested in
significantly broader reviews of research related to problem solving should
see Schoenfeld (1985), Charles & Silver (1988), and Lesh & Zawojewski (2007).
This paper focuses on the most recent research related to problem solving that
has a direct impact on the way mathematics is taught every day in secondary
mathematics classrooms.

Learning Mathematics: The Traditional Role for Problem Solving

Problem solving has always played an important role in learning mathematics.
An Agenda for Action (NCTM, 1980) said, Problem solving [should] be the
focus of school mathematics. . . In 2001 the National Research Council
(Kilpatrick, J., Swafford, J. & Findell, B. 2001) reaffirmed the importance
of problem solving by identifying it as one of five strands of mathematical
proficiency (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Five strands of mathematical proficiency (NRC, 2001)
Conceptual understanding

Randall I. Charles
Dr. Randall Charles is Professor
Emeritus in the Department of
Mathematics at San Jose State
University. His primary research has
focused on problem solving with
several publications for NCTM.
Dr. Charles has served as a K12
mathematics supervisor, Vice President
of the National Council of Supervisors
of Mathematics, and member of
the NCTM Research Advisory

Procedural fluency

Committee. He has authored or

Problem-solving competence

coauthored more than 100 textbooks

Reasoning

through college.

Helpful attitudes and beliefs about mathematics

While problem solving has always had a role in learning mathematics, its
role has evolved over the years. The oldest role that prblem solving has and
continues to have in learning mathematics is that of a context for practicing
and applying concepts and skills. This role has been referred to as teaching
FOR problem solving. In this role, concepts and skills are developed and then
real-world problems, usually called applications, are presented where students
must choose and apply appropriate concepts and skills to find solutions.
A clear finding from research related to teaching FOR problem solving is that
practice solving real applications improves students problem-solving abilities

for grades Kindergarten

IF these applications are of sufficient variety and complexity that thinking is

required to understand them and to identify the relevant concepts and skills
needed to solve them. In other words, the applications must be real problems
for students. Applications that require little or no thinking about the concepts
or skills needed to solve them are called exercises, not problems. Applications
presented as exercises do little to improve students problemsolving abilities.

Learning Mathematics: A New Role for Problem Solving

Mathematics makes sense to students and is easier to remember and apply
when students understand the mathematics they are learning. Also, students
who understand mathematical concepts and skills more readily learn new
mathematical concepts and skills. Students who learn
mathematics with understanding feel a real sense of
accomplishment and thus are motivated to learn more
mathematics and to succeed in mathematics. Students
who understand mathematics become autonomous
learners of mathematics.

Introducing concepts and skills

in problem-solving contexts
evokes thinking and reasoning
about mathematical ideas.

Research has shown that understanding is best developed

through a balance of (a) introducing concepts and skills
in the context of solving problems and (b) presenting
examples to students in the context of a problem-focused and question-driven
classroom conversation. Developing mathematical understanding in these ways
is called teaching THROUGH problem solving.
Introducing Concepts and Skills Through Problem Solving
One of the strongest research findings in the past ten years is that problem
solving plays a critical role in the initial learning of mathematical concepts and
skills, not just as a context for practicing concepts and skills as discussed above.
Research shows that understanding develops during the process of solving
problems in which important math concepts and skills are embedded (Schoen
& Charles, 2003). Introducing concepts and skills in problem-solving contexts
evokes thinking and reasoning about mathematical ideas. Students who think
and reason about mathematical ideas learn to connect these new ideas to ideas
previously learned, that is, they develop understanding.
The task shown in Figure 2 is a problem that can be used to introduce pointslope form for linear equations. Prior to this task, students had learned to write
and graph equations using the slope-intercept form of a linear equation. In this
task, they are not given the slope or the y-intercept. From the graph shown,
students can solve this problem in different ways. One way is to estimate the
y-intercept and use any two points to find the slope. Another way is to find the
slope using any two points and then substitute the slope and the coordinates of
any point given into the slope-intercept form of a linear equation to calculate
the y-intercept.
This task and both ways of solving it described above can be used to connect
the students prior learning, slope-intercept form, to the new idea in the lesson,
point-slope form. Solving this task illustrates the important idea that the form
most easily used to represent a linear equation depends on the information one
has about the line (e.g., the slope).

Research Into Practice Pearson

Figure 2. An example of a problem-based task used to introduce point-slope

form. (Editor see Algebra 1 Lesson 5-4)

Figure 3 is another example of a problem that can be used to introduce a

geometry lesson on surface areas of prisms and cylinders. Notice that this
problem focuses only a cylinder, not a prism. Problem-based learning tasks
used to start lessons need not address all concepts and skills in a lesson. Many
high school mathematics lessons contain too many ideas for students to explore
all of them through problem-based learning tasks at the start of lessons. The
important point is that a problem-based learning task develops an initial
understanding of one or more concepts or skills that will be formally taught
through the lesson.
Figure 3. An example of a problem-based task used to introduce surface areas of
prisms and cylinders. (Editor see Geometry Lesson 11-2)

Research related to introducing concepts and skills through problem solving

has shown that solving problems like the ones in Figures 2 and 3 and discussing
alternative solutions promotes understanding IF the important mathematics
students were supposed to learn through solving the problem is made explicit.
This should happen in two ways. First, after students share and discuss
alternative solutions to a problem, the teacher must connect the students work
on that problem to the new concept or skill of focus for the remainder of the
lesson by sharing comments that make the connection explicit. For the example
in Figure 2, the teacher should comment on the fact that the information given
about a line determines how one can find the equation of the line. And, in this
case, that although one can use the information given to find the equation of the
line in slope-intercept form, there are other forms of linear equations that can
Research Into Practice Pearson

also be used depending on the information given. In the remainder of the lesson,
the students will learn another way to write an equivalent equation for a line,
point-slope form.
The second way to make the important mathematics explicit related to a
problem-based task is the next ingredient in teaching mathematics through
problem solving presenting examples through problem-focused classroom
conversations.
Presenting Examples Through Problem-Focused Classroom Conversations
Introducing new concepts and skills through problem solving initiates
understanding. Following up with the artful presentation of examples to
students further develops understanding. Presenting and discussing examples has
always been an important part of teaching and learning mathematics. However,
we have learned that there are effective and ineffective ways to do this.
Show and tell is not an effective instructional approach to present examples
where understanding is a goal. That is, the teacher showing students an example
and walking them through a sequence of steps with a verbal explanation of
what to do does not help most students understand mathematics. Research
shows that an effective alternative is for the teacher to introduce examples
as though they are problems to be solved, and then
have a classroom conversation driven by rich questions
focusing on why the various parts or steps in the example
make sense. Presenting examples in this way promotes
understanding because rich questions focus attention on
important elements of the concept or skill and they make
explicit the rationale for why these elements make sense.
As noted earlier, when concepts and skills make sense to students, they learn
faster, they remember better, and they are better able to use concepts and skills
in subsequent problem-solving situations.

Introducing new concepts

and skills through problem
solving initiates understanding.

Another significant benefit of presenting examples as problems and having

question-driven classroom conversations about those problems is that the
teachers questions and statements can model mental habits of thinking and
reasoning that promote learning and positively impact performance. Figures 4
and 5 illustrate how examples can be presented as problems and how questions
can be asked and comments made that model thinking and planning.
Modeling effective mental habits of thinking and reasoning is an efficient and
effective way for students to acquire these mental habits. Modeling can happen
visually and orally as students watch and listen to the teacher and other students
solve problems and it can also happen by students reading illustrations of
effective thinking and reasoning as shown in Figures 4 and 5.

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Figure 4: An example from Algebra 1 presented as a problem that models

planning and thinking.

Figure 5: An example from Geometry presented as a problem that models the

Know-Need-Plan phases of problem solving.

Research Into Practice Pearson

Summary
Developing students abilities to solve problems will remain a critical goal
for secondary school mathematics. Practice solving rich applications of
mathematics, application problems not exercises, is a necessary component of
a curriculum that improves problem-solving performance. However, problem
solving in the secondary mathematics curriculum should not be limited to
practice solving application problems. A mathematics curriculum that develops
a deep understanding of concepts and skills must be driven by teaching
THROUGH problem solving. New concepts and skills should be introduced
in the context of solving problems that have important mathematical ideas
embedded. Then examples should be used that extend understanding and
promote thinking and reasoning. Presenting examples as problems and modeling
effective thinking and reasoning habits promotes understanding and mastery.

Research Into Practice Pearson

Charles, R. & Silver, E. (Eds.). (1988). The

Teaching and assessing of mathematical
problem solving: Research agenda for
mathematics education. Research Monograph.
Research Agenda Project. Reston, VA:
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

Kilpatrick, J., Swafford, J. & Findell, B. (Eds.)

(2001). Adding it up: Helping children learn
mathematics. Washington, D.C.: National
Academy Press.

National Council of Teachers of

Mathematics. (1980). An Agenda for Action:
Recommendations for school mathematics of
the 1980s. Reston, VA: Author.

Lesh, R. & Zawojewski, J. (2007). Problem

solving and modeling. In F.K. Lester (Ed.)
Second handbook of research on mathematics
teaching and learning. Reston, VA: NCTM.

Schoen, H.L. & Charles, R.I. (Eds). (2003).

Teaching Mathematics Through Problem
Solving, Grades 612. Reston, VA.
Schoenfeld, A. H. (1985). Mathematical
problem solving. New York: Academic Press.

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References