A Study on Problem-Solving Ability and Classification of Mathematical Problems.

문제 해결력과 수학문제의 분류 관점에 관한 연구

Mathematics education is generally to cultivate mathematical thought. Most meaningful thought is to solve a certain given situation, that is, a problem. The aim of mathematies education could be identified with the cultivation of mathematical problem-solving ability. To cultivate mathematical problem-solving ability, it is necessary to study the nature of mathematical ability and its aspects pertaining to problem-solving ability. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relation between problem-solving ability and classficational viewpoint of mathematical verbal problems, and bet ween the detailed abilities of problem-solving procedure and classificational viewpoint of mathematical verbal problems. With the intention of doing this work, two tests were given to the third-year students of middle school, one is problem-solving test and the other classificational viewpoint test. The results of these two tests are follow ing. 1. The detailed abilities of problem-solving procedure are correlated with each other: such as ability of understanding, execution and looking-back. 2. From the viewpoint of structure and context, students classified mathematical verbal problems. 3. The students who are proficient at problem-solving, understanding, execution, and looking-back have a tendency to classify mathematical verbal problems from a structural viewpoint, while the students who are not proficient at the above four abilities have a tendency to classify mathematical verbal problems from a contextual viewpoint. As the above results, following conclusions can be made. 1. The students have recognized at least two fundamental dimensions of structure and context when they classified mathematical verbal problems. 2. The abilities of understanding, execution, and looking- back effect problem-solving ability correlating with each other. 3. The instruction emphasizing the importance of the structure of mathematical problems could be one of the methods cultivating student's problem-solving ability.