Using Known Information: When solving a problem, we sometimes use the formula, correlation or relationship
we know beforehand.
Brainstorming: Brainstorming is a good strategy for raising the quality and the number of the solution. First the
problem is defined, and then all the possible solutions are put forward uncritically. Then by making criticism,
the most applicable and practical solution is estimated and the best one is chosen (Dhillon, 1998).
The issue of problem solving, which is so important as to take place in the center of mathematics education, is
fairly investigated by educators. When we look at the literature, Elçin Emre (2008) has investigated secondary
school students' skills of using problem solving strategies in her master's thesis and reached the conclusion that
students are quite willing to use a strategy they have learned. Elçin Emre has also observed that students can
use the strategies they have learned appropriately in their homework after the strategy teaching. In his study,
İsrael (2003) has examined problem solving strategies used by 8th grade students in terms of level of success,
gender, and socio-economic level variables and reached the conclusion that there is a significant relation
between problem solving strategies and the level of success, socio-economic level and gender. Yazgan (2007)
has conducted research on intelligent guessing and testing, making a drawing, finding a correlation, simplifying
the problem, making a systematic list and working backwards strategies with 4th and 5th grade students who
participated in the survey. As a result of this study, it is seen that students can use guessing and testing, making
a drawing, making a systematic list and working backwards strategies without difficulty. The ones students had
difficulty in while practicing are determined as finding a correlation and simplifying the problem strategies.
In the study conducted by Altun and the others (2007), the thoughts of the students in teacher training
programs about problem solving strategies were examined besides the effects of the training whose topic is
problem solving strategies on the problem solving success. The teaching has been effective for the teaching of
all the strategies except for writing equations and reasoning and led to an increase in problem solving success.
It is determined that the success of problem solving can be explained by three factors and it is concluded that
the strategies that are strong in pointing the problem solving success are as follows respectively;
finding a correlation, working backwards, simplifying the problem, making a systematic list, reasoning and
drawing a diagram. All the students indicated that teaching of the strategies that are the subject of the study
must be included in teacher training.
Although there are quite a lot of source on problem solving in the literature, there are limited resources about
elementary school mathematics teacher candidates' problem solving skills and strategies. Whereas, the
investigation of elementary school mathematics teacher candidates' problem solving skills and strategies,
which will be one of the most important factors in the development of problem solving skills that is in the
centre of the objectives of elementary school mathematics classes, is very important for mathematics
education. Also, the study of the geometry problems, which have always had an important place in our lives
and been relevant to our daily lives, will be quite important for mathematics education. For this reason, the
investigation of elementary school mathematics teacher candidates' geometry problem solving strategies will
provide an important contribution to mathematics education.