Teaching Problem-Solving in Math for Elementary Learners

Teaching math is about more than just getting the right answer, it’s about nurturing problem solving skills that students can use for the rest of their life. As students face increasingly complex problems, educators are looking for ways to help them persist, reason, and explore with confidence.

How to Build Problem-Solving Skills

One of the most effective ways to build problem-solving skills is through productive struggle. This means giving students the space to work on complex tasks or problems that require effort, critical thinking and persistence to solve. It’s a mindset that encourages students to make mistakes and try again. 

Problem-solving projects, activities, and games are a great way for teachers to encourage students to use critical thinking and reasoning. When students engage with challenging problems in a playful and purposeful environment, they’re more likely to take risks, test ideas, and develop strategic approaches. 

By inviting students to work through problem-solving activities and projects, they’ll become innovative learners. Innovative learners are able to adapt, think flexibly, and find multiple solution paths. Over time, this builds not only their problem-solving skills but also their confidence and curiosity.

3 Projects to Build Problem-Solving Skills

There are many different projects that will help student develop problem-solving skills. Here are a few ideas to consider: 

Fancy Feet

Fancy Feet is a hands-on project that combines statistics, measurement, and creativity. It’s ideal for students who are learning about graphing, data analysis, and statistics. 

1. Have students begin by collecting data; in this case measuring different foot sizes. Students can measure foot sizes of other students, staffs, and even family members. They can record foot length and width, shoe size, and additional information such as age and gender.
2. Once students have their measurements, ask them to organize the data. You could show them different examples such as bar graphs or tables, but you can also encourage them to find their own ways to present the data. This gives them a chance to think critically and creatively.
3. Now that your students have a visual way to look at the data, have them analyze it. What patterns do they see? What is the range and average foot size? You can have students communicate their findings by presenting it to the class or writing a small summary. 

Extension Opportunity: Using the knowledge they gained in the first part of this activity, you can have students design their own shoes! Students can begin by researching shoe design throughout history, while also learning more about manufacturing and materials. You can have students draw models that include dimensions and scale, then have students consider how to adapt the design for different sizes. 

Mini Golf Challenge 

This engaging geometric project encourages student to apply their knowledge of angles by designing a mini-golf hole. This can be a great group project, where students can practice their collaboration skills. 

1. Students can start this project by drawing a scaled model of their mini-golf hole. You should encourage students to incorporate obstacles, curves, and bank shots (where the ball is intentionally hit off a side bank or wall to change its trajectory). This will challenge students to be strategic with their planning.
2. After they have a drawing, they can label relevant angles and different paths the ball could take to achieve the hole-in-one. Students can use protractors to measure the angles. You could also have students list what type of angle it is (acute, obtuse, or right).
3. Student can build a physical model of their mini-golf hole. They could use materials such as cardboard, foam board, wood scraps, or recycled materials. Once it’s complete, students can test their designs in action. Were their calculations correct? Did they need to adjust the angles or obstacles? 

Build a Model House

In this activity, students design and build a scale model of a one-room house. It’s ideal for students learning about scale and proportion. 

1. Students can start by creating a blueprint of their room using graph paper or digital tools. They should define the real-world size of their room (e.g. 10ft x 12ft), then choose a scale for their model (e.g. 1 square = 1 ft). Students can also measure the perimeter and area of the house.
2. Next, students should add furniture and appliances. They first need to calculate the scale. One way to do this is to give students a list of furniture with two sizes and have students problem solve which size of each piece of furniture to use. They should also consider the space needed between furniture such as leaving room for walking.
3. You can give students the opportunity to present their model house and explain their decisions. Were there any layout problems? If so, how did they solve it? Did they have to make any trade-offs?

Extension Opportunity: You could add constraints and requirements to make the design problems more challenging. For example, you could give students a budget using a point system for each item. Or you could add a surprise item that they need to fit in at the last minute. 

Creating the Environment for Problem-Solving Skills 

When teaching problem-solving skills, it’s important to focus on critical thinking—one of the five core pedagogy principles at Matific. Our platform fosters this mindset by encouraging students to approach new problems with an open mind and explore multiple strategies through game-based problem-solving. Matific creates a safe space where students can learn from their mistakes and understand how and where they went wrong. 

By teaching students problem-solving skills, we are setting them up for success as they’ll be better prepared to face the future. What problem-solving project will you be teaching this year? 

Editor’s note: This blog was originally written for Matific in 2021. It has been lightly edited and updated for the Heinemann blog in 2025.

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