Problem Solving as an Instructional Method
Problem solving as a method of teaching may be used to accomplish the instructional goals of learning basic facts, concepts, and procedures, as well as goals for problem solving within problem contexts. For example, if students investigate the areas of all triangles having a fixed perimeter of 60 units, the problem solving activities should provide ample practice in computational skills and use of formulas and procedures, as well as opportunities for the conceptual development of the relationships between area and perimeter. The "problem" might be to find the triangle with the most area, the areas of triangles with integer sides, or a triangle with area numerically equal to the perimeter. Thus problem solving as a method of teaching can be used to introduce concepts through lessons involving exploration and discovery. The creation of an algorithm, and its refinement, is also a complex problem solving task which can be accomplished through the problem approach to teaching. Open ended problem solving often uses problem contexts, where a sequence of related problems might be explored. For example, the problems in the margins evolved from considering gardens of different shapes that could be enclosed with 100 yards of fencing