Derek Wahl & Dr. Ivona Grzegorczyk
Abstract
As we are currently observing decline in mathematical skills among pre-college students, it is up to the next generation of mathematics and science teachers to bring a better scope of teaching methods to improve students’ problem solving skills as well as their attitudes towards mathematics including its own applications of mathematics such as physics, computer science, mechatronics, engineering and more. We worked with pre-service elementary and secondary teachers on implementation of Polya’s method of introducing systematic strategies in the context of problem solving. We discuss the results from the assessment of improvement of teachers’ skills and their attitudes towards solving word problems in their future lessons to improve the math literacy in schools. Our research question asks: can the Polya method improve STEM education by providing a systematic approach to problem solving for teachers and students? Will students be able to achieve a better understanding of the mathematical concepts with this method and improve their performance?
Details
Session 2
3:00pm – 4:30pm
Grand Salon
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