A Study On The Current Situation Of Open Problem Solving And Improvement Strategies For Elementary School Fourth Graders In Mathematics

The Mathematics Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022 Edition)emphasizes that teachers should guide students to find problems and ask questions in real situations,adhere to the direction of open and comprehensive propositional reform,cultivate students’ core literacy in mathematics,and adapt to the requirements of social development.Open-ended questions in mathematics stand out for their open-ended characteristics and become an important direction for cultivating students’ mathematical thinking skills and effectively improving their core literacy.At present,open-ended problems in mathematics account for a small proportion of the actual development of teaching activities and academic assessment at the elementary school level in China,front-line teachers do not pay enough attention to them,and students are hardly exposed to real open-ended problems.This study reflects the current situation of students’ mathematical thinking level and reflects their real ability of problem solving by investigating the situation of fourth grade students’ solving mathematical open problems,and provides ideas for teachers’ teaching reform and teaching research directions.Based on the study of open-ended problems in mathematics,this study uses the literature research method,the educational test method,and the interview method to investigate the current situation of fourth grade students’ solving open-ended problems in mathematics.First,the literature research method was used to review the literature on open-ended problems in mathematics and to determine the research base and current status of research in this field,which provides theoretical support for this thesis.The educational test method was used to collect test question samples from fourth grade students using open-ended question test theses as the main research tool and to conduct relevant statistical analysis on the data.Interviews were also conducted with fourth grade mathematics teachers to understand the exposure of teachers and students to open-ended mathematics problems in their daily teaching activities,and to analyze in depth the problems and reasons behind the students’ solving of open-ended mathematics problems.The analysis of the solution results for each open-ended mathematical problem revealed that the overall performance of the students was moderately high,with their thinking level at the level of associative and multiple structures,and only a small number of students reached the level of abstract generalization.The results varied significantly across schools,with students in school W performing best,followed by schools L and Z,and finally school H.Combining several dimensions of thinking barriers,self-perceptions,and strategy use,it was found that fourth graders have some ability to solve open-ended problems in mathematics,but they are not good at solving very comprehensive open-ended problems,and they have weak problem representation,low abstract generalization,and lack active Students have weak problem representation skills,low level of abstraction and generalization,lack of active problem awareness,and difficulty in choosing and using appropriate problem solving strategies.The main reasons for these problems are that fourth graders lack the knowledge base and experience in solving open-ended problems,students’ metacognitive skills are insufficient,teachers lack strong training for students’ thinking skills,teachers’ mathematical problem design concepts are outdated,teachers do not add and summarize problem solving strategies in time,and there are difficulties in teaching open-ended problems in reality.In response to the above problems,we propose corresponding improvement strategies,including enriching problem solving strategies and developing students’ innovative thinking;emphasizing review and induction activities to improve students’ metacognitive ability;innovating teachers’ problem design ability and paying attention to open-ended mathematical propositions;cultivating students’ problem awareness with the help of integrated and practical activities;respecting students’ differences and exploring effective open-ended problem teaching activities.