DEVELOPING PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS' MATHEMATICAL THINKING THROUGH PROBLEM-SOLVING ACTIVITIES

Résumé fourni par la source

This theoretical and methodological article examines how systematically organized problem-solving activities can develop mathematical thinking among primary school students. The study synthesizes established research on mathematical proficiency, heuristic reasoning, metacognition, classroom discourse, representation, and formative assessment. A qualitative integrative review was used to identify principles that are both supported by research and applicable to everyday primary mathematics lessons. The analysis shows that problem solving is most productive when it is treated not as an additional exercise after explanation, but as a central means of learning mathematical concepts. Effective tasks permit more than one representation or strategy, connect mathematics with meaningful situations, and require pupils to explain, compare, verify, and revise their solutions. The teacher’s role is to maintain cognitive demand while providing timely prompts, visual models, and structured peer discussion. The article proposes a five-stage instructional cycle—understand, plan, solve, explain, and reflect—and offers practical criteria for task selection and assessment. It concludes that regular engagement with appropriately challenging problems strengthens conceptual understanding, strategic competence, mathematical language, persistence, and independent reasoning in the primary grades.

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