PROBLEM POSING IN MATHEMATICS LEARNING AND TEACHING: A RESEARCH AGENDA

The goal of this Research Forum is to present various critical perspectives on problem posing, and to engage participants in helping to provide theoretical and practical structure to this important developing field by creating an international research community. In our contemporary dynamic society, exposed to unpredictable changes, problem posing becomes an educational topic with high potential for better ways to train students for a changing world. This topic has become the focus of attention of teachers from around the world and is seen as one way to address the burden of curriculum. Problem solving has a long history as part of the school mathematics curriculum and as an instructional goal. By contrast, problem posing has typically raised far less interest (Ellerton, 1986). Yet, in recent years, problem posing has received more attention in the mathematics education community both as a means of instruction (to engage students in learning important concepts and skills and to enhance their problem-solving competence) and as an object of instruction (to develop students' proficiency in posing mathematics problems) (e.g., English, 1997a, 19976). The question remains, however, of identifting the defining characteristics of problem posing, and of examining how the various sub-categories of problem posing might be related to each other and to problem solving in theory and in practice (Stoyanova & Ellerton, 1996).