Designing a Lesson Plan Oriented Toward Developing Problem-Solving Competency for Fourth-Grade Students in Mathematics Teaching

Abstract

Developing problem-solving competency in teaching is an important requirement of the 2018 General Education Curriculum in Vietnam. This paper presents a study on designing and validating a lesson plan oriented toward developing problem-solving competency for fourth-grade students in Mathematics. The study employed a qualitative approach, combining theoretical analysis and teacher interviews. The study developed a framework of problem-solving competency indicators consisting of five components: understanding the problem, making a plan, carrying out the plan, checking the result, and adjusting the solution. Based on this framework, the paper illustrates a lesson plan in which learning activities are linked to competency indicators and observable evidence. The interview results show that teachers considered the indicator framework and lesson plan initially appropriate, clear, and feasible. They also suggested standardizing guiding questions, adding checkpoints for collecting evidence, assigning roles in group activities, and linking learning games with checking, explaining, and revising solutions. The study contributes to concretizing competency-based teaching in Grade 4 Mathematics. However, it has not measured the experimental impact of the lesson plan on students’ progress.