Primary School Teacher Trainees’ Skills and Opinions on Solving Non-Routine Mathematical Problems

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of a course on problem-solving strategies in terms of the students’ success in problem-solving and their judgment on those strategies. This study, carried out on 120 teacher trainees, took place over a period of 5 weeks followed by pre-, post- and retention tests in an attempt to determine the trainees’ level of strategy-learning and problem-solving success. The course was effective in teaching all the strategies except for equation writing and reasoning and led to an increase in problem-solving success. It has been concluded that success in problem-solving can be explicated by three factors. The following sequential order of strategies, namely working backwards, simplifying problems, systematic list-making, reasoning and making diagrams were indicators of problem-solving success of the teacher trainees. All the students unanimously made clear that the strategy-teaching course used in this study should definitely be integrated into their existing curriculum.