Multiple solutions to problems in mathematics teaching: Do teachers really value them?

Abstract

Solving problems in different ways is strongly advised for mathematics learning and teaching. There is, however, little data available on the examination of teachers' openness to and evaluation of different solutions to the problems. In this paper, the author examines classroom teachers' openness to different solutions (or to what extent they value different solutions) to problems and how they evaluate (grade) these solutions. For this purpose, two questionnaires including items on students' different solutions are applied to about 500 classroom teachers. In this paper, only two items related to the focus of the study are analysed. The findings show that teachers do not value different solutions and have difficulties in grading students' different solutions. The issues that these findings raise are discussed in detail.