teachingisproblemsolving.org

What It Is

Teaching is Problem Solving (TiPS) is an open-resource website focused on improving mathematics instruction. Launched in 2017, it was founded by Dr. Robert Schoen, Associate Director of FCR-STEM at Florida State University. The site aims to share information and ideas that support mathematics teaching and learning across grade levels. Its content mainly centers on children’s understanding of key mathematical concepts such as counting and cardinality, place value, and the equal sign, as well as how teachers can discuss student thinking in the classroom, conduct formative assessment, and engage in lesson study.

Core Content and Format

TiPS is not a traditional structured online course. It is closer to a professional development and classroom resource library for teachers. Its main resources include videos on key mathematical concepts, What’s Next? teacher stories, CGI teacher experience videos, FACT formative assessment collaborative meeting guides, and math journal prompts. One particularly practical resource is a set of 126 word problems for the middle grades, designed for students starting in Grade 3 and potentially suitable for Grades 4 and 5 as well. These problems cover multiplication and division, multi-step addition and subtraction contexts, whole numbers, common fractions, decimals, and money contexts, while connecting to areas such as number sense and operations, fractions, algebraic reasoning, measurement, data analysis, and probability. The resources are available in PDF and Word formats, making them easy to print on labels for students’ math journals or edit and adapt to classroom needs.

Pricing and Licensing

The site does not present any paid courses, memberships, or certificate programs. The math journal prompt resources are described as being under a Creative Commons license, allowing teachers to use, adapt, and share them, but not to sell them or claim intellectual property ownership. As a result, its value lies more in free teaching research and lesson-planning support than in being a paid learning product.

Pros and Cons

The main strength of TiPS is its clear teaching-research orientation. It emphasizes understanding students’ mathematical cognition through their problem-solving strategies rather than simply providing practice answers. The resources are also downloadable and editable, making them highly practical for classroom use. Its institutional background is relatively clear as well, with connections to Florida State University’s FCR-STEM and Florida classroom practice. The drawbacks are that it lacks a structured course pathway, learning progress tracking, assessment system, and completion certification. All content is in English, which may create a language barrier for Chinese-speaking teachers. In addition, some video story content depends on YouTube or provides YouTube viewing options, which may be unstable to access from mainland China.

Who It’s For and Access in China

TiPS is suitable for elementary mathematics teachers, teaching researchers, teacher trainers, and educators who want to understand CGI and children’s mathematical thinking. If you are looking for a self-study course for students or a certificate-based teacher training program, it is not a good fit. Regarding access from mainland China, the site’s text-based resources may be accessible, but YouTube-related videos are usually restricted, so overall it should be considered “partially restricted.”