Department of Mathematical Sciences

Abstract: With the continued increase of enrollment at colleges and universities, students entering college mathematics under prepared is increasing. These students entering post-secondary institutions, are being required to enroll in developmental mathematics courses to better prepare them for college mathematics coursework. From personal experience, many of these students are disengaged and uninterested with problem solving and mathematics in general. Problem Posing has been shown to engage students with mathematical problem solving by utilizing the student interest to help increase understanding and improve attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics. The purpose of this discussion is to look at preliminary results of a comparison study, that addresses the impact that problem posing has on developmental mathematics students' engagement with word problems, what word problems the students pose, the effect problem posing has on the students' attitudes and beliefs, and how problem posing effects the proficiency on word problems.