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• Thoughts on Pólya’s legacy

  157-160

  Alan Schoenfeld

  Views:

  83

  There is a saying, "the older I get, the smarter my parents become." What it means, of course, is that the more we learn, the more we appreciate the wisdom of our forebears. For me, that is certainly the case with regard to George Pólya.

  There is no need to elaborate on Pólya's contributions to mathematics – he was one of the greats. See, for example, Gerald Alexanderson's (2000) edited volume The Random Walks of George Pólya, or Pólya's extended obituary (really, a
  53-page homage) in the November 1987 Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society (Chung et al., 1987). Pólya was one of the most important classical analysts of the 20th century, with his influence extending into number theory, geometry, probability and combinatorics.

• Pólya’s influence on (my) research

  161-171

  Benjamin Rott

  Views:

  78

  In this article, I outline the influence of George Pólya's work on research in different areas and especially on mathematics education, namely heuristics and models of the problem-solving process. On a more personal note, I will go into some details regarding Pólya's influence on my own work in mathematical problem solving with a focus on the research project for my PhD thesis.

  Subject Classification: 97xxx

• The tradition of problem-posing in Hungarian mathematics teaching

  233-254

  Zoltán Kovács

  Views:

  122

  Based on the literature, Pólya was influential in problem-posing research. The present paper draws attention to a book written with Pólya's collaboration, which has not yet received sufficient emphasis in the problem-posing literature. On the other hand, Pólya's impact on mathematics education in Hungary has been significant, including the problem-posing paradigm. Two works, published only in Hungarian, that rely heavily on problem-posing are highlighted. Furthermore, it is presented how problem-posing appeared in the Hungarian Complex Mathematics Teaching Experiment (1962-78) led by Tamás Varga.

  Subject Classification: 97D50

• Consequences of a virtual encounter with George Pólya

  173-182

  John Mason

  Views:

  65

  The consequences of a virtual encounter with George Pólya as a teacher are recorded. An instance of his influence on my mathematical thinking is recounted through work on one of the problems in one of his books.

  Subject Classification: 01A99, 11A05, 97-03, 97D50