General Problem Solving Suggestions

· Teach heuristics/strategies

· Ask questions

· Keep in mind why we teach problem solving

· Imitation is important in learning problem solving

· Incorporate problem solving throughout the mathematics curriculum

Suggestions for Helping Students Solve Routine Problems

· Focus on the action of the problem

· Write problem (or have students write problems) without numbers and then describe how to solve them

· Give student numbers and ask them to create a problem

· Focus on number sentence that describes problem situation

· Include two-step problems

· Solve a variety of types of problems at once

· Provide problems with too much or too little information