Active problem solving skills are strongly tied to a student s attention abilities. Students must closely attend to problem details to determine what the question is, what kind of answer to look for, and what information will be salient or important when solving the problem. In addition, the ability to preview, or estimate likely outcomes within a problem, enables the student to make quantitative and strategic predictions, such as what amounts will likely be involved or what strategies are likely to be used. Students use their long-term memory to help determine whether a word problem reflects a familiar pattern. They search in memory for prior knowledge, learned rules, or relevant skills that have worked in the past for that type of problem, and then, apply that knowledge in the new situation.
Effective problem solving also requires flexible thinking.
And, finally, throughout the problem solving process, students must be able to monitor the outcomes of their calculations, and refine their solutions when necessary. Here are some strategies to help students become active problem solvers in math. Helpful Hints Model problems for the class and explain each step when teaching students how to be active problem solvers. Think out loud for students as you reason through a problem, choose a strategy to use, decide if the strategy is working, etc. Have students talk through problems with each other as well.