FROM THE EDITORS: Welcome to Our Focus Issue on Problem SolvingAuthor(s): Mary Crowley and Rose Mary ZbiekSource: The Mathematics Teacher, Vol. 96, No. 8, PROBLEM SOLVING (NOVEMBER 2003), p.529Published by: National Council of Teachers of MathematicsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20871425 .

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ROM THE EDITORS

Welcome to Our Focus Issue on

Problem Solving THE CALL FOR THIS FOCUS ISSUE BEGAN BY

reminding readers that in 1980, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics made a

strong case for including problem solving in the mathematics curriculum. Problem solving was not a new topic at that time?after all, George P?lya published his seminal work, How to Solve It, in 1945. However, the 1980 Agenda for Action publica tion marked the beginning of a period in mathe matics education when the processes of problem solving received specific attention in the school mathematics curriculum. Problem solving became much more than solving word problems.

Skip ahead now more than twenty years ... into the twenty-first century and into this focus issue. Curricula and pedagogy have, quite naturally, con tinued to evolve. The curriculum includes new top ics, for example, topics in discrete mathematics. Some topics, such as logarithms, have faded from

prominence. Students have new tools to aid them in

learning mathematics: calculators, dynamic soft

ware, interactive computer- and calculator-based lab instruments, and various manipulatives. Such

methods as writing about mathematics and co

operative learning are advocated by educators. Diverse groups of students enter mathematics classrooms in which all learners are expected to achieve and to meet high-profile expectations.

The Editorial Panel began to wonder how these

changes and circumstances might be influencing and shaping problem solving in your classroom. What does problem solving mean in today's con text? Where are we now? Where are we headed? We turned to you to tell us.

We welcomed numerous manuscripts submitted for consideration for this issue. Most of the manu

scripts fell into one of four major categories:

Teachers wrote about their own development as

providers of problem-solving environments.

Authors submitted problems that generate con structive problem-solving activities and lead to

important learning outcomes.

Instructors described insightful student

approaches and described how attending to these

approaches advances student learning. Teachers shared classroom heuristics, including several supported by the use of technology.

We have included items that represent each of these areas. The collective message that emerged from the submissions is that problem solving is nei ther an outdated topic nor an isolated unit of study. It is an engaging venue in which students learn and use mathematics.

We hope that this issue gives you new insights into problem solving. Perhaps you will reflect in a different way on your own practices as a mathemat ics problem solver. Perhaps you will find a specific problem that you can take back to your classroom.

Perhaps you and your students will experiment with a new approach to an old problem. Perhaps you will delight with us in everything that problem solving is.

Mary Crowley Mount Saint Vincent University

Rose Mary Zbiek The Pennsylvania State University

Mr

Vol. 96, No. 8 ? November 2003 529

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