The importance of mathematics in most fields of human endeavor cannot be underestimated. Its usefulness in science, mathematical and technological activities as well as commerce, economics, education and even humanities is almost at par with the importance of education as a whole.

                             Problem solving is an important component of mathematics education because of its practical role to the individual and society. “By learning problem solving in Mathematics, learners should acquire the ways of thinking, habits of persistence and curiosity and confidence in unfamiliar situations that will serve them well outside the mathematics classroom” (NCTM, 2000). Although problem solving is an integral part of all Mathematics, many learners struggle with solving problems. Research shows that learners’ “ability to solve word problems falls far below their ability to compute because children do not know how to choose the correct operation to apply to the problem”( Burns, as cited in Goldberg, 2003)”. 

                           While it is true that mathematics serves as an important tool in our life, in general it is unfortunate to observe that learners find difficulty in learning mathematics subjects until to the point of disliking it. In the study ofRizalvo(1999) as cited by Orteza( 2006) that learner’s encountered difficulty in mathematics because they lack of the computational skills in the fundamental operations on whole numbers, fractions, decimals, radicals, analysis in solving problem and logical thinking. Thus to overcome this weakness the learner should have a good foundation in fundamental operation in mathematics in their early years of schooling.

By: Melissa R. Sales | Teacher III | St. Francis II Elementary School | Limay, Bataan