A Problem With Problem Solving: Teaching Thinking Without Teaching Knowledge

By Jamin Carson. The Mathematics Educator, 2015

161 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Problem solving theory and practice suggest that thinking is more important to solving problems than knowledge and that it is possible to teach thinking in situations where little or no knowledge of the problem is needed. Such an assumption has led problem solving advocates to champion content-less heuristics as the primary element of problem solving while relegating the knowledge base and the application of concepts or transfer to secondary status. In the following theoretical analysis, it will be argued that the knowledge base and transfer of knowledge—not the content-less heuristic—are the most essential elements of problem solving.

Subfields: Education

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/373eff50e028926c0465a31843e4f7988cf5477c

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In Education

1. Melanie G. Gurat
2. Tri Maniarta Sari
3. Ika Dewi Sumiati
4. Susriyati Mahanal
5. Siti Zubaidah
6. Nur Ismirawati

Citations in the corpus

• RICOSRE: A Learning Model to Develop Critical Thinking Skills for Students with Different Academic Abilities (2019, background): “Students' thinking skills can be developed through problem-based learning and the improvement of students’ critical thinking skills, creative thinking skills, decisions making ability, conceptions formation, and information processing (Carson, 2007).”
• Mathematical Problem-Solving Strategies among Student Teachers. (2018, methodology): “Moreover, Dewey’s (1933) “How we think”, Polya’s (1988) problem-solving methods and the stages of Krulik and 54 55 Printed ISSN: 2336-2375 Rudnick’s (1978) in solving were some of the theoretical bases in conducting this study (cited by Carson, 2007).”