Question The Basic Four-Step Problem-Solving Procedure Assessment Description In your own words, describe the basic four-step problem-solving procedure. Explain why each step is important. Create a simple problem that could be used in a classroom and demonstrate how you would use each of the four steps to solve this problem. How would you teach this process in the classroom?
The Basic Four-Step Problem-Solving Procedure
Problem-solving is a critical skill that students need to learn to succeed in mathematics, among other subjects. The four-step problem-solving procedure includes understanding the problem, making a plan, carrying out a plan, and checking the results.
Understanding the problem requires a student to read a mathematical question and identify what is asked (Dos Santos, 2019). The step also entails checking facts that may be provided in the question and assessing whether they are relevant to solving the problem. A graph can also help understand a problem. A student can draw a diagram or an image of the problem to help him better understand it. Making a plan is the second step in solving a problem here; the student connects the unknowns with the facts at hand (Dos Santos, 2019). The third step, carrying out the plan, simply means putting into action all that the student has learned from reading and understanding the question and making a plan to solve it. Accordingly, the student uses the appropriate steps and techniques to solve the problem. Checking results is the final step in problem-solving. This means verifying that the answer provided is correct using mathematical methods or checking it against another solution.
An example problem is “if a student scores 80 marks in mathematics out of 100 and 58 marks out of 70 in English, what is the total score?” The first step here is understanding the problem. In this case, it means identifying various mathematical operations that can be used to solve the question (Dos Santos, 2019). The second step involves making a plan; it could mean setting up a systematic way to solve the problem. For this particular question, it might be helpful for students to use the diagram method, where they plot all of the information given in the question on a graph. The third step is carrying out the plan and solving the equation created in step two. Finally, checking results can be done by verifying that the answer provided is correct. In this case, it would mean checking whether the total score is 132, as indicated in the solution.
References
Dos Santos, L. M. (2019). Pre-Service Teachers’ Professional Development through Four-Step Problem-Solving Model: A Seminar Method. International Journal of Education and Practice, 7(3), 146-157.