Research into Practice: Creating a Problem-solving Atmosphere

Our ongoing project involves twenty-three second-gradc teachers who are teaching all their mathematics, including computation, through mallgroup problem solving and wholeclas discusion. Typically the children first work on problem-centered mathematical activities in pair or occasionally in group of three. During this phase of the lesson, the teacher moves from group to group, observing and interacting with the children while they do mathematics. After fifteen or twenty minutes, the teacher asks the children to stop working and begins a whole-class di scussion of their solution to the problems.