The Implementation of Polya’s Model in Solving Problem-Questions in Mathematics by Grade 7 Students
Main Article Content
Abstract
This research reports a study of the difficulties the students face in problem solving questions in mathematics and how to tackle it by using George Polya’s four-step problem solving model. The objectives of this research are 1) to develop the solving problem-questions skills in mathematics by using George Polya’s model for grade 7 students, and 2) to evaluate students’ achievements in mathematics on problem solving questions after using Polya’s problem solving model.
A mixed of quantitative and qualitative methodologies were conducted in this study. The subjects of this study were a group of ten grade 7 students of an international school. The research tools were a pre-test before the treatment and a post-test after the treatment. The test included ten questions of problem solving which contained five “multiple choice questions” and five “long answer questions” for reading comprehension purpose. The data was collected and compared by quantitative analysis using mean, percentage and standard deviation, and by qualitative content analysis.
The results from the pre and post tests were obtained, analyzed, and compared to find the improvement of the students’ performances while answering the problem solving questions. This study concludes with suggestions of methods that teachers can use to help the students overcome their difficulties in problem solving questions in mathematics.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
Bhatia, V. K. (1992). The Bilingual’s Orthodoxy in Professional Genres, an invited paper for the Special Issue of World Englishes entitled
Burns, M. and Silbey, R. (2010). So you have to teach math? Sound advice for K–6 teachers. Sausalito, CA: Math Solutions Publications
Carpenter, T. P. (1989). Teaching a Problem Solving. In R.I. Charles and E.A. Silver (Eds), The Teaching and Assessing of Mathematical Problem Solving, (pp.187-202). USA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Fajemidagba and Olawoye (2009). Effects on Polya and Scholfeld Problem Solving Instructional Strategies on Student’s Beliefs about Mathematics and Mathematical Problem Solving.
Hugar, D. (2011). The Role of Problem Solving in the Mathematics Classroom. A Research Paper Methods. [Online]. Available: http://www.lhup.edu/swillia6/MATH%20200/
Jonassen, D.H. (1997). Instructional design model for well-structured and ill-structured problem-solving learning outcomes. Educational Technology: Research and Development. 45(1): 65-95.
Polya, G. (1945). How to Solve It. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-08097-6.
Polya, G. (1962). Mathematical discovery: On understanding, learning and teaching problem solving (vol. 1). New York: Wiley.
Pólya, George (1957). "How to Solve It". Garden City, NY: Doubleday: 253
Roche, Anne. 2013. Choosing, creating and using story problems: Some helpful hints. Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom. 18(1): 30-35.
Schoenfeld, A. H. (1985). Mathematical problem solving. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Voss, J. F. (1988). Problem solving and reasoning in ill-structured domains. In C. Antaki (Ed.), Analyzing everyday explanation: A casebook of methods
Yuan, S. (2013). Incorporating Polya's Problem Solving Method in Remedial Math. Journal of Humanistic Mathematics. 3(1): 96-107.