Literature on problem solving in mathematics has discussed extensively the need to teach students to reason mathematically. This train of thought led to an emergent theme in mathematics education in the mid-80’s wherein researchers propound that teaching mathematics via problem solving was the correct way to foster students’ problem solving and hence reasoning skills. Schroeder and Lester (1989) contended that in mathematics, problem solving was not a content strand but a pedagogical stance. To elaborate, the researchers proposed that in teaching any mathematics class at any level, students be exposed to a variety of problem solving tasks that require them to collate and analyze previous knowledge and yet offer a challenge. Problem solving was thus seen as a means of developing students’ reasoning skills. The researchers were influenced by the classical work of Polya (1981) and Dewey (1933). Much work was also done in defining and identifying good problem solving
tasks for learners as well as modes to implement such teaching via small group cooperative problem solving, expository writing, problem posing, etc. (e.g., Lester and Charles, 2003).