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Young Students’ Feelings Towards Problem-Solving Tasks: What Does “Success” Imply?

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Views and Beliefs in Mathematics Education

Abstract

According to the Swedish curriculum, problem-solving is to be part of mathematics teaching from preschool continuing throughout all grades in school. However, little is known about young students’ feelings towards problem-solving tasks. This paper reports on an educational design research study investigating the potential in teaching problem-solving in preschool classes (6-year-olds). Two examples are presented showing how the students evaluate their feelings towards the problem-solving tasks they have been working on. The results show that understanding a task from the beginning or being able to solve it quickly are not necessary prerequisites for young students to experience enjoyment when working with the tasks. Quite the opposite, the majority of the students evaluated the tasks as fun and accessible, even though their initial solutions were often incorrect and they had to struggle a lot to solve the problems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden

    Hanna Palmér

  2. Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

    Jorryt van Bommel

Authors
  1. Hanna Palmér
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  2. Jorryt van Bommel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hanna Palmér .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Mathematics Education, University of Cologne, Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Benjamin Rott

  2. Faculty of Mathematics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Günter Törner

  3. Faculty of Mathematics, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Joyce Peters-Dasdemir

  4. Faculty of Mathematics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Anne Möller

  5. Institute of Mathematics Education, University of Cologne, Cologne, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Safrudiannur

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Palmér, H., van Bommel, J. (2018). Young Students’ Feelings Towards Problem-Solving Tasks: What Does “Success” Imply?. In: Rott, B., Törner, G., Peters-Dasdemir, J., Möller, A., Safrudiannur (eds) Views and Beliefs in Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01273-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01273-1_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-01272-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-01273-1

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

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