Abstract
Designing and teaching a post-secondary elective Liberal Education course in “Puzzles and Problems” prompts a veteran mathematics professor to re-examine the roles of student and instructor in a university classroom. As students became authentically engaged in collaborative and cooperative development of problem-solving skills, and the classroom environment shifted from teacher-centric to learner-centric, the role of the “teacher” changed radically to a new teacher-learner paradigm, reflecting the emerging 21st century learning environment as it affects both teachers and students.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author is very grateful to Doug Orr for his commitment to this course and project, and for much advice and help in the writing of this paper.