Posing Creative Problems: A Study of Elementary Students’ Mathematics Understanding

Posing problems in the mathematics classroom can enhance students’ learning experiences and allow them to produce problems in a realistic context. Students do not always associate positive feelings with mathematics. Problem-posing activities can positively impact students’ mathematical understanding while allowing for freedom of expression. Conducted within a larger multi-year study (N = 35), the present study utilized a subset of data (n = 11) on elementary students. The primary focus was to understand how a problem-posing intervention can increase students’ mathematical understanding and ability to pose solvable problems. Problems posed by students were coded based on their solvability and then were further analyzed for their realism, context, and flexibility in computational terminology as well as the correct alignment of the word problem with the student’s written equation. Results suggest elementary students can create solvable word problems within a variety of different contexts.