1 Mathematics Curriculum Development and the Role of Problem Solving

… a fundamental aim of the mathematics curriculum is to educate students to be active, thinking citizens, interpreting the world mathematically, and using mathematics to help form their predictions and decisions about personal and financial priorities. (NCB, 2009, p. 5). Problem solving is recognised as an important life skill involving a range of processes including analysing, interpreting, reasoning, predicting, evaluating and reflecting. It is either an overarching goal or a fundamental component of the school mathematics curriculum in many countries. However, developing successful problem solvers is a complex task requiring a range of skills and dispositions (Stacey, 2005). Students need deep mathematical knowledge and general reasoning ability as well as heuristic strategies for solving non-routine problems. It is also necessary to have helpful beliefs and personal attributes for organizing and directing their efforts. Coupled with this, students require good communication skills and the ability to work in cooperative groups (Figure 1)