Below we give an annotated list of books that you may find helpful in giving you further ideas for problem solving lessons.   If you have others that you think we should add to the list please E-mail us the details.

Hill, T. (1987). Work it out: Strategies for Problem Solving in Maths. Oxford University Press: Australia.

Work it out provides teachers of middle and upper primary students with ten strategies for problem solving in maths. These strategies are introduced with sample problems and are followed by reproducible worksheets for year levels 3 to 6.

Skinner, P. (1990). What's your problem?: Posing and Solving Mathematical Problems in Junior Classes. Thomas Nelson: Australia.

What's your problem? Describes the problem-solving mathematics programme that author Penny Skinner developed with a class of junior school children over a 2 ½ year period. Teachers are provided with clear and detailed information on how they can set up similar programs in their own classes. Chapters cover: how to organise time, content and evaluation, how to make a start with problems, writing and posing problems, sharing problems and developing problem solving strategies. The emphasis in the programme described is upon the presentation of mathematical concepts and skills through problems, many of which should be generated by the children themselves.

Stacey, K. & Groves, S. (1985). Strategies for Problem Solving: Lesson Plans for Developing Mathematical Thinking. Victoria College Press: Victoria, Australia.

Strategies for Problem Solving was written for junior secondary mathematics teachers although none of the activities required mathematical content beyond that of the primary school. The book provides teachers with a practical synthesis of problems, strategies and theory, in a format that is suitable for immediate classroom use. It contains detailed lesson plans, teacher support materials and reproducible student worksheets for about 40 lessons, each designed to teach important problem solving skills and strategies.

Stacey, K. & Southwell, B. (1991). Teacher Tactics for Problem Solving. Curriculum Corporation: Melbourne.

Ministry of Education. Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving in Mathematics: Years 1 – 8. Wellington: Learning Media, 1999.

This publication consists of a small booklet and a CD ROM. The 32-page booklet contains a number of useful hints on problem solving ranging from what it is to what its advantages and disadvantages are. It also talks about one-off problem solving lessons as well as units of work using problem solving. Along the way it makes suggestions about strategies, scaffolding children and assessment.

The CD ROM gives a number of lessons and units of work to support the material of the booklet. These cover Levels 1 to 4 of the curriculum. There is a facility for you to create your own lessons. In addition, the CD ROM contains assessment tasks and certificate blanks that you can use for children in your class.

Holton, Derek, Anthony Neyland, Jim Neyland and Bronwen Thomas. Teaching Problem Solving. Chichester: Kingsham Press, 1999.

This book provides an introduction to the teaching of problem solving for primary and junior secondary teachers. The various ideas relating to problem solving are introduced by specific problems of varying difficulty. Problems in the text are generally solved in a ‘chatty’ way. On chapter is devoted to case studies where problems are solved on one side of the page and discussed on the other. In some way this is supposed to represent the doing of the problem (on the left) and the thinking about the problem (on the right).

At the end of each chapter there are a number of questions to reinforce the material of that chapter. The book ends with six sample lessons.

The book should be useful for teachers and pre-service teachers alike.

Holton, Derek and Charles Lovitt. Lighting Mathematical Fires. Carlton, Victoria: Curriculum Corporation, 1998.

This is essentially a book written for junior secondary but some of the ideas and problems will be relevant to the intermediate school.

The book is divided into four sections. The first deals with general problem solving matters and gives some thought to teaching problem solving. The second section contains ten problems (along with master sheets that can be copied for students) to illustrate the use of different strategies. The second section has another ten problems, which give students a chance to practice their strategies, and allows teachers the opportunity to extend the list of known strategies. The final section suggests ways that problem-solving problems can be generated from old, known situations and new, invented ones. The section suggests that all teachers are capable of producing their own problems for their own students.

Curran, John (Ed.). Problem Challenge: 5-Year Competition Book 1991-1995. Dunedin: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Otago.

The Problem Challenge is a competition for Intermediate school students (as well as talented mathematical students in lower years) that has been going since 1991. Students attempt 5 questions in 30 minutes 5 times in the year. Book tokens are awarded to the top 1% of students, the top 10% get certificates of excellence, the top (roughly) 25% get a certificate of merit, and the remainder of the students get a certificate of participation.

The book starts with some tips on problem solving going over standard strategies with worked examples. It then gives the 25 questions from each of the first five years of the competition. An answer section follows these as do full solutions for each question. The last section of the book provides the statistics for the Problem Challenge for the years 1991 to 1995.

As a result the book is a useful store of good problems that can be used in a variety of ways. They can be used as one-off questions to extend the class (especially its more able members); as the basis for class lessons; as practice for next year’s Problem Challenge and so on.