Journal of the Mathematics Council of the Alberta Teachers’ Association
Volume 51 Issue 1, December 2013
15
Srinivasa Swaminathan
The teaching of undergraduate and graduate courses in mathematics involves routine exposition of standard topics illustrated by solved problems from the texts. Weekly assignments are generally based on exercises from textbooks. Generally, mathematics is studied not for its own sake, but because the ultimate object is merely to pass an examination or to acquire the minimum knowledge necessary for dealing with some other subject of study.In such a situation, how much of problem solving ability is acquired by students is doubtful; just propose a problem outside the normal curriculum one would find that most students are unable to solve it. However, there are gifted students in almost every class. Problem-solving sessions are held to train such students so that they can compete in the annual Putnam and similar exams; they learn to apply previously acquired knowledge to new and unfamiliar situations.
