Renee Tysinger, 6/27/2016, Blog Entry #1

As I read through the introduction I found myself agreeing with the authors on a few different occasions. The first is that problem posing enables a deeper understanding (Brown and Walter, 2005). I constantly encourage my students to ask questions after reading through a problem, while solving a problem, and after  solving a problem. I feel that it is important for them to understand how a procedure works and  whether or not their solution makes sense. I also feel that it is important for them to self monitor their progress. All of these things are done through problem posing. I have a list in my classroom of possible questions to ask that we add to throughout the year as a class. I remind the students that this list is only to be used as a reference for there is no such thing as only one right question. Which leads me to the next point that I align with, that students fear they will not be able to come up with the right  answer (Brown and Walter, 2005). I think this is especially true in math. Unfortunately there is not enough time to teach all of the different approaches to solving a particular math problem. I teach my students a method or two but I also allow them to share their own methods. If their method is consistent and brings them to the correct solution then I will give them full credit. I believe this helps to discourage the "right way" syndrome that the authors mention in the introduction.

Reference:
Brown, S. & Walter, M. (2005). The art of problem posing (3rd ed). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.