Students' ability to apply mathematical knowledge to various situations has been one of the major concerns in mathematics education research. However, little is known about the assessment strategies that have a substantial contribution to the development of mathematical problemsolving skills in kindergarten children through to upper secondary school students. In this review of existing literature, we discuss the contribution of assessment strategies in the last three decades in strengthening learners' acquisition of mathematical problem-solving skills. Twenty peerreviewed conference papers and journal articles published from 1997 to 2020, downloaded from Google Scholar, Academia, and ERIC databases have been analyzed and discussed. Based on this review, it has been noted that the application of assessment strategies such as Structure of the Observed Learning Outcomes taxonomy, Higher-Order Thinking Skills model, performance assessments, authentic assessments, dynamic assessments, and video games-based assessments alongside the learner-centered/active learning methods like problem-based and cooperative learning is bound to strengthen students' mathematical problem-solving skills.
This study explored teachers' beliefs about mathematical problem-solving. It involved 36 identified teachers of Kayonza District in Rwanda via an explanatory mixed-method approach. The findings indicate that most teachers show a positive attitude towards advancing problem-solving in the mathematics classroom. However, they expose different views on its implementation. Role of problem-solving, Mathematical problems, and Problem-solving in Mathematics were identified as main themes. Problem-solving was highlighted as an approach that helps teachers use time adequately and helps students develop critical thinking and reasoning that enable them to face challenges in real life. The study recommends teacher professional development initiatives with their capacity to bring problem-solving to standard.
Developing problem-solving abilities is a major objective of learning mathematics at school. However, learners’ problem-solving abilities are still critical. The main purpose of this study was to investigate how the problem-based learning model could enhance learners’ problem-solving abilities in mathematics. The study used quasi-experimental research with one group pre-test-post-test design. The population in this study consisted of fifty-four grade eleven learners (aged between 16 to 19 years old) from one school in Kayonza District in Rwanda. Data were collected using mathematical problem-solving tests and interviews and were analysed using paired t-tests for dependent sample means and descriptive analysis. The study results indicate that problem-based learning potentially impacts learners’ problem-solving abilities. It is shown from learners’ work in problem-solving that all indicators of problem-solving abilities, namely understanding the problem, planning ways to approach the problem, monitoring the progress while tackling the problem and reviewing the solution process, emerged as being fairly well improved. In addition, based on the interview results from some learners and their teachers, they like the PBL model because embedded tasks helped them to apply the knowledge that can improve their reasoning, creativity and thinking capability. The study recommends that schools encourage teachers to adopt PBL for enhancing learners’ problem-solving abilities. Additionally, researchers are urged to use findings from this study as a reference for further research. Furthermore, researchers could conduct similar research on a large scale using different methodologies.
This article explores the influence of university/college first-year student teachers' educational backgrounds and their beliefs about teaching on their performance, and identifies these as key indicators of student engagement in learning to teach in developing countries, with particular reference to Rwanda. Both quantitative data (students' marks) and qualitative data (semi-structured interviews) were collected from student teachers in the 2010 academic year. This article argues that, in developing countries where primary teacher preparation is done at high school level while secondary school teacher preparation is done at university/college level, tertiary first-year student teachers' beliefs about their teaching career are more likely to determine the level of their engagement in learning to teach and hence performance than their prior academic background in related fields of study.
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