Teaching strategies for mathematical problem-solving through the lens of secondary school teachers

Abstract

Many studies have been conducted on problem-solving but only a small number of studies emphasized the strategies of teaching problem-solving. This paper explores the teaching strategies for mathematical problem-solving in a secondary school in Johor, Malaysia. It involves a qualitative study in which a semi-structured interview was conducted with mathematics teachers. Data were analyzed using a sixstep thematic analysis. The results can be viewed from three contexts of findings, namely the teaching strategies, the problems faced by teachers, and the solutions to overcome the problems. The findings revealed that there are teachers who have implemented personal teaching strategies, namely the Easy-Maths Model and the Cut-Stop-Solve Model to effectively teach mathematical problem-solving. The findings also explained some problems in teaching mathematical problem-solving, whereby students’ weaknesses in basic mathematics emerged as the main drawback. This study provides useful information to teachers on the different strategies for teaching mathematical problem-solving.