DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO PROBLEM SOLVING IN THE TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS OF MATHEMATICS

Although the importance of problem solving in mathematics classes is acknowledged, some authors advocate different perspectives on its application in the teaching and learning process. Thus, this paper aims to present some concepts about problem solving in the view of some researchers and discuss the different approaches and possibilities of using them in the classroom, i.e., teaching about problem solving, teaching to solve problems, and teaching through Problem Solving. This is a qualitative bibliographic research whose information was collected through written materials published in books, proceedings of scientific events, journals, and doctoral theses, which have served as reference for new scientific work. The analytic-descriptive study developed allowed us to conclude that, among the three approaches, the one that mostly takes into account students' previous knowledge, and promotes the construction of new knowledge, concepts, and mathematical content, and consequently the development of competences and skills, is the teaching of mathematics "through" Problem Solving. Moreover, this approach includes the others in its development, that is, teaching "about" and "for" problem solving.