Problem Solving Heuristics for Lower Primary Mathematics Yeap Ban Har Catholic High School (Primary)
MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM SOLVING
 
The rationale of teaching mathematics is that it is “an  excellent vehicle  for the development and improvement of a person’s  intellectual competence ”.
National Institute of Education
Wellington Primary School, Singapore Ministry of Education Singapore  2006 an excellent vehicle for the development and improvement of a person’s  intellectual competence “ ” mathemati cs
Move 3 sticks to get two squares.
Move 3 sticks to get two squares.
Wellington Primary School, Singapore
Wellington Primary School, Singapore
Wellington Primary School, Singapore
Wellington Primary School, Singapore
Wellington Primary School, Singapore
Wellington Primary School, Singapore
John had 1.5 m of copper wire. He cut some of the wire to bend into the shape shown in the figure below. In the figure, there are 6 equilateral triangles and the length of XY is 19 cm. How much of the copper wire was left?     19 cm x 5 = 95 cm 150 cm – 95 cm = 55 cm
Example 1
F  A  M  I  L  Y  F  A  M  I  L  Y  F  A  M  I  L  Y . . .
F  A  M  I  L  Y  F  A  M  I  L  Y  F  A  M  I  L  Y . . . 6th 12th 18th What is the 50th letter?
Example 2
104, 124, 144, 164, 184,  . . .
10 4,  12 4,  14 4,  16 4,  18 4,  20 4, . . .
10 4,  12 4,  14 4,  16 4,  18 4,  20 4,  22 4,  24 4,  26 4,  Position Number 1 10 2 12 3 14 4 16 5 18 … … 19 ?
Example 3
Even routine tasks such as finding the value of 7 x 9  are initially problems.
       2 x 9 = 18 5 x 9 = 45
Primary Mathematics Standards Edition
Example 4
199 – 39 = 160 200 – 39 = ?
Example 5
17 + 19                                    
17 + 19 16 + 20                                    
Example 6
- 3
100 - 97 3 101 - 98 3 102 - 99 3
- 5
100 - 95 5 101 - 96 5 102 - 97 5 103 - 98 5 104 - 99 5
Children may do guess-and-check to get the solutions. Some children may observe a pattern / relationship. Guess-and-check and observe a pattern are examples of heuristics.
Example 7
 
Khon Kaen, Thailand
4 1 5 2 3
Princess Elizabeth Primary School
Princess Elizabeth Primary School
Example 8
2 4 5 Use a table is another problem-solving heuristic in mathematics. 2xx 4xx 5xx 245 254 425 452 524 542
Example 9
 
1 5 4 2
Example 10
A cupcake is sold at 40 cents each. How many cupcakes can be bought using $1 coin?
Example 11
A cupcake is sold at 40 cents each. How many cupcakes can be bought using $95?
Example 12
Ali has 3 picture cards. Janice has 2 more cards than Ali. How many picture cards do they altogether? Ali Janice
Ali has 19 picture cards. Janice has 12 more cards than Ali. How many picture cards do they altogether? 19 Ali Janice 12
Ali has 19 picture cards. Janice has 12 more cards than Ali. How many picture cards do they altogether? 19 Ali Janice 12
Example 13
Alan has 19 picture cards. He has 12 more cards than Bala. How many picture cards do they altogether? 19 Alan Bala 12
Example 14
Roy has some picture cards. Samantha has 12 more cards than Roy. They have 20 cards altogether. How many cards does Samantha have? Roy Samantha 12 20

Lower Primary Maths Problem Solving