Autores:
Yolanda Rosas-Rivera, Yulia Solovieva
Resumen:
Background. The process of teaching mathematics represents a challenge for primary education, due to the different perspectives and disciplines involved. In addition, as an active and flexible process, it requires feedback on what the students actually achieved. An analysis of the di"erent learning and development outcomes allows the teacher to understand the mathematical content and the method of teaching it in the classroom, with the objective of promoting the students’ conceptual development.
Objective. The objective of our study was to analyze the general skills for prob-
lem solving which students developed, by applying dynamic evaluation.
Design. A verification method was used to identify the students’ abilities and
dificulties. A protocol for evaluating the process of solving mathematical problems was organized. The assessment included four simple problems and four complex ones. The participants were 15 students in the third grade of primary school attending a private school located in Mexico City.
Results. The results showed that the students identified the types of mathematical operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) required
to solve the problems as their objective. Therefore, their preparation of a solution
plan, its execution, and its verification were based only on empirical thinking and
quantitative information.
Conclusions. We concluded that problem-solving is an intellectual activity
that requires conceptual development to carry out a solution plan, execute it, and
verify it, in addition to the main objective of answering the question posed by the
problem. We propose that these characteristics be included in the organization of
mathematics teaching in order to develop mathematical thinking.