Friday, 3 September 2010

Problems vs. Puzzles: Work vs. Play

So the best way to engage children with maths is to teach them the strategies for problem solving and then present them with interesting problems to solve. Mathematics is about solving problems not about performing routines. Indeed the pupil must use routine to gain the answers, but that is just arithmetic, or algebra, or geometry, mathematics involves solving problems. But at Puppet Maths we don’t like problems. Life is hard enough anyway without problems, we like puzzles. It is amazing how one’s approach changes one’s outlook. Problems are difficult, puzzles are fun. Both require thought and strategy to produce a solution, but whereas the former is work, the latter is play. We puppet mathematicians prefer to play… we’ll get to the same place at the end of our journey, but we’ll have a better time en route.

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