Problem Solving

I've just had an email from my HOD to say that we're going to be looking at 'Problem Solving' at least once a week for the remainder of this half term.

Perfect!

Due to my first MA module, I've read (probably) everything there possibly is to read on problem solving! Gardner, Polya, Mason, Boaler, Wells, to name but a few problem solving advocates. But do we agree on what actually constitutes problem solving in mathematics?

I don't like the kind of maths where you dress it up in a context (or as Dan Meyer calls it - pseudocontext). But I DO like the investigative task, just like the Chessboard Problem I dissected for my first MA assignment.

I'm going to have a little think about what is appropriate at KS3 (all of them, I hear you cry?) I think I mean what is appropriate for the teachers in my school - they are the ones who need to deliver it - and if few have given problem solving tasks before, it is they who will need to be supported through it.

I'm going to suggest tasks like "The staircase problem". This one comes from Nrich - but is a familiar task, and one that produces familiar results.

The Staircase Problem