Abstract:

Problem solving is a methodology common to all official Mathematics Curricula in Basic Education. Furthermore, one of the purposes of teaching mathematics is the interpretation of society, as the study of mathematics is necessary for the development of other areas of human activity. It is also through learning mathematical content that children develop an informed and responsible citizenship in the society where they are inserted. Problem solving should be directly related to situations that may happen in everyday life and from there can draw more knowledge from what is explicit in the problem statement, thus contributing to the mathematical literacy of the student. In today's society, money is an essential element in our community life, so it is essential to solve problems in which students are confronted with everyday situations. With these tasks, they develop their cognitive abilities, acquiring power of persuasion and decision in varied and creative situations. In relation to creativity, one must get out of one's comfort zone, and perhaps even out of the classroom, so that pupils can see and associate the content covered in the classroom with the reality of the outside world. Critical thinking is an important factor to develop with problem solving, as in its resolution students become more involved in the learning process making it active. It is through an immersion approach that students develop critical thinking by engaging with the activities proposed by the teacher and reflecting on what they are doing.

The scenario or problem situation can be a story, a dilemma, a challenge, an interview or other media content, an advertisement article, a simulation, for example, and should be as realistic as possible, motivating and stimulating for research and discussion, leading to more meaningful learning.

Therefore, as we consider that problem solving should be directly related to situations that can happen in students' everyday life, contributing to their financial literacy, we will present tasks implemented in the Supervised Teaching Practice that involve money, namely calculating expenses, interest on loans, etc, and that lead to a decision making process by the student. These tasks constitute a didactic sequence carried out in a class of 2nd cycle of basic education of a school in the Northeast of Portugal. We concluded that, since the tasks were directly related to the children's daily life, we contributed to the students' financial literacy

Keywords:

Problem solving, financial literacy, basic education, Supervised Teaching Practice.