Dynamic Thinking and Static Thinking in Problem Solving: Do they Explain Different Patterns of Students’ Answers?

We look at dynamic thinking and static thinking in relation to mathematical problem solving. We examine the distribution of answers chosen by large samples of students to multiple-choice problems. Our empirical data suggest that static thinking activated by students in problem solving is likely to be responsible for a certain pattern of students’ responses, which is characterized by a uniform distribution among the choices. This finding has implications for curriculum development, as well as for the teaching practice in school.