Problem Solving Strategy
I plan to help my students become better problem solvers by using the strategy in How to Solve It by George Polya7. Polya describes four steps to problem solving. Step one: Understanding the problem. Students in the lower grades need to read a problem two or three times before they comprehend what the problem is asking them. Step two: Devise a plan to solve the problem. This is where we would discuss what kind of problem it is and if we are going to need to add or subtract. I will use turn and talk so students have a chance to discuss with their peer why they believe it is a certain type of problem and how they would solve it. Step three: Implement the plan. Students will use their plan of how to solve their problem and come up with a solution. We would then share our solutions and if some students have a different solution they can explain their reasoning to their solutions. Step four: Reflecting on the problem. Students will reread the problem and put their solutions into the problem and check to see if their solution is correct. We will spend time reflecting on the problems and discussing what they are asking. Reflecting on the problem involves more than checking the correctness of the solution. Reflection is the time when you can ask, is this problem similar to other problems we have solved? Is it different from others. Which other problems are similar, and which are different. What are the differences?
I will have my students will keep a story problem notebook that will be used every day and they will write out these steps in the notebook and draw out their story problems. Once the problem is worked out and checked they will also label the type of problem it is. This will be a reference they can look back on when they have questions about a new problem.
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