Characteristics of Mathematical Problems Posed by Teachers

Abstract

Background: In science, posing problems is considered as important as solving them, however, school has explored little this type of activity. Objective: To examine the features of mathematical problems posed by elementary school teachers, analysing aspects related to the statement of the problems and the types of problems formulated. Design: Descriptive, qualitative research. Setting and participants: Eighty-seven teachers (45 teaching 1st and 2nd grades, and 42 teaching 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades of elementary school) attending a teacher education course promoted by the Municipal Secretary of Education of Curitiba. Data collection and analysis: The teachers were asked to formulate four problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. The types of the quantities involved, the necessary information, the number of steps required for solving the problems, and the types of problems from the theory of conceptual fields were analysed. Results: The problems presented a clear language, sufficient information, required a single operation for their solution, involved discrete quantities, and presented few challenges. The problems of addition and subtraction involved situations of composition and transformation, those of multiplication were of simple proportion, and those of division were of partitive problems. Conclusions: The results suggest that the teachers have a limited conception about the formulation of problems, emphasising the need to promote teacher training courses that develop a greater understanding of the properties of the mathematical concept involved in the problems to be formulated and about resolution procedures to be adopted