Introduction

We live in an increasingly technological and information-rich world. Education is focusing more on enquiry and skills-based approaches. Students, even at the early levels of schooling, are expected to develop a range of skills, including problem solving skills.

Creative thinking and problem solving are not only important elements in the curriculum but they are also crucial in daily life. Students need to learn basic mathematical skills, but they also have to be able to apply these in unfamiliar contexts, communicate their thinking and explain how they got to their solutions.

This book is easy for parents and teachers to use, and teaches multiple strategies for solving problems, using challenging but supportive contexts. The approach is underpinned by the Five E's approach to learning.

Course Objectives

The course will help students to:

• Engage with problems meaningfully
• Explore different options for approaching and solving problems
• Explain how they are thinking
• Elaborate on their working and processes and see connections between different areas of mathematics
• Evaluate what worked and what didn’t, learning from mistakes as well as successes