[mathluv]

Problem solving is not just a word problem. If a word problem is in a lesson on addition, many of them use addition. NO THINKING REQUIRED! Math is not just manipulating numbers, working equations, etc (although that is part of what I love about math). Math is CRITICAL THINKING/PROBLEM SOLVING. Math is taking what you know and using it to find the answer to something that you do not know.

I repeat - PROBLEM SOLVING IS NOT JUST ANOTHER WORD PROBLEM. IT IS WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO.

So many people equate word problems with problem solving. They are not the same thing!

[meyer]

So many people equate word problems with problem solving. They are not the same thing!

I'm thinking that many people's perceptions of what constitutes word problems v. problem solving may be different than the perceptions of others. I've always described math problems that involve words as "story problems", even in calculus and physics classes. Many of those problems involved the cumulative knowledge of previous chapters' lessons along with the new lesson. These problems, at least in the math arena, always followed some increasingly difficult repitition in the functions being studied as well as those studied prior.

I'm kind of hoping that you could provide some kind of example of what you are describing when you refer to each. Not nit-picking; rather, I'm just trying to discern what you are thinking when you compare the two.