Pre-Service Teachers’ Project-Based Instruction with Mathematics Problem-Solving

Project-Based Instruction (PBI) is prevalent in science classrooms, which focuses on real-world tasks as a vehicle for student learning. PBI can be a fitting instructional approach to enhance student mathematics problem-solving. This case study explored two pre-service secondary mathematics teachers’ PBI with mathematics problem-solving based on their intended and enacted lessons. Data sources were the pre-service teacher (PST)’s lesson plans and video-recorded classroom observations. Results from data analysis report that PSTs employed a wide range of heuristics in their lesson units and spent more time for facilitating student group work than other activities during the instructional time. The findings suggested that project-based design principles may encourage teachers to use problem-solving heuristics, especially for restating problems, using a model or diagram, and making suppositions. Furthermore, scaffolding with problem-solving heuristics can be enacted so that teachers keep students engaging and persevering in problem-solving toward reaching goals.