Elementary school teachers' knowledge and beliefs regarding non-routine problems

This study focuses on the knowledge exhibited by 30 elementary school in-service and pre-service teachers in solving non-routine mathematical problems and on their beliefs regarding these kinds of problems. Interviews were used to reveal teachers' knowledge and beliefs. The findings indicated that these teachers had difficulty in solving non-routine problems and that their ability to solve these problems was influenced by their professional backgrounds. Most of the teachers, although failing to solve the given problems, expressed their willingness to give such problems to their students in class, explaining that such problems are important for students to learn how to solve as they help develop mathematical thinking and the skill of solving problems in everyday life. However, the teachers were unwilling to include such problems in examinations.