Thus, in order to have a more approachable problem solving strategy for students, we extended the four-step
problem-solving strategy into a six-step strategy. We made
our choice based on empirical observations after experimenting with a five-step strategy reported in Ref. 51. Justification
for having a more detailed problem-solving strategy can be
found in the words of Schoenfeld: “First, the strategies are
more complex than their simple descriptions would seem to
indicate. If we want students to use them, we must describe
them in detail and teach them with the same seriousness that
we would teach any other mathematics” [56]. In addition, we
shall further rationalize below the need for explicitly including the new step in our proposed methodology (see item 5
below). Accordingly, our proposed six step problem-solving
strategy is as follows: