Multiplicities of resolutions by high school students in open-ended mathematics problems

Abstract:

This article investigates how students from basic education deal with open-ended mathematics problems. To achieve this objective, six open-ended mathematics problems were applied in two classes of the 9^th grade of elementary school and in two classes of the 3^rd year of high school. By means of a qualitative research, it was analyzed the students’ multiplicity of resolutions and it were evidenced their singularities. The analysis showed a variety of strategies presented by students to solve problems. These strategies are very unique, developed by idiosyncratic ways of the students to read the statements of the problems, implement a way to deal with them and construct a settlement process. Facing these singularities, it was identified a variety of resolutions, several different ways by which the students solve problems. To solve open-ended mathematics problems, the mathematical activity of the students occurs by means of processes that are often little observed by teachers. In this direction, the analysis of written production shows up as a possibility to look for ways how students deal with mathematics problems, not characterizing them by punctuating what they didn’t or what they should have done.

Keywords:
mathematics education; assessment as a research practice; written production analysis