Mathematical thinking through problem solving and posing with fractions

One of the important aims in mathematics education is to enhance mathematical thinking for students. And students posting questions is a vital process in mathematical thinking as it is part of the reasoning and communication of their learning. This paper investigates how students develop their mathematical thinking through working on tasks in fractions and posing their own questions after successfully solved the problems. The teaching was conducted in primary five classes and the results showed that students’ reasoning is related to their analogy with what previously learned. Also, posing their problems after solving the problem not only helps students to understand the structure of the problem, it also helps students to explore on different routes in solving the problem and extend their learning content. Copyright © 2012 Korean Society of Mathematical Education.