Understanding and problem solving

In today's world where pupils face a crowded curriculum and paper qualifications are in such demand, where schools are judged by government on the basis of the grades their pupils achieve, schools have become crammers rather than educators. Do it this way, follow the routines... these are the questions you are likely to be asked, these are the ways to solve those questions. You don't have time to think about the questions when you're in an exam and working against the clock, learn the questions, learn the ways to solve the questions, get a good grade.

In the days before electronic calculators were common, calculations had to be done mentally. To do these quickly and effectively it was necessary to think a problem solving manner. The result was that pupils learned the techniques of problem solving. Since the introduction of calculators both teachers and pupils have relied this machine as a crutch and have abandoned practicing problem solving as a routine activity. Instead they just press buttons and an answer magically appears. Maths has stopped being about problem solving, and become about routine following and button pushing.
Mathematics should be about imagination, about tackling problems, being inventive. These are the attributes that Puppet Maths put back into mathematics teaching.