November 23, 2022
Problem solving is one of three main areas of the national curriculum for mathematics; however, it is widely regarded as the most complex to teach. As many problems will be non-routine or in unfamiliar contexts, typically successful teaching strategies such as modelling may have limitations here. The EEF have a series of thought-provoking blog posts on this matter, which are well worth your time.
The third blog post provides a possible strategy that teachers can use with children to improve metacognition. Once trainee teachers have had experience teaching their own maths lessons, now might be a good time to explore their experiences in a bit more depth.