TTP Network

Empowering Educators through Collaboration for Student Success

About the TTP Network

TTP Network is a volunteer organization of educators and researchers designed for teachers and schools that use or plan to use a pedagogical approach called Teaching Through Problem-Solving (TTP). This approach uses problem-solving as the process for student learning to nurture students to become independent problem solvers. The TTP Network is led by researchers in mathematics education and teacher education who study teaching and learning mathematics and agree to freely provide resources and guidance to the community of educators to support them in improving teaching and learning.

All the resources and professional development opportunities this TTP Network provides are freely available for the members. Also, the TTP Network will allow members to interact with other members and network leaders regularly.

Four Types of Neriage

TTP has several features that set it apart from other kinds of problem solving lessons. One essential feature, the heart of TTP, is a dynamic and collaborative whole-class discussion called Neriage (Shimizu, 1999). The teacher facilitates a Neriage discussion to look back on students’ solution approaches to help them derive the essential facts, concepts, and procedures. In typical non-TTP problem solving lessons, the goal is just to solve the problem, not to explore any new mathematical concepts. Students share their solutions like they are doing a “show and tell” activity, but they don’t learn anything new (Takahashi, 2008). However, in TTP lessons that feature Neriage, students discover and explore new mathematical concepts. The term Neriage has been widely used among Japanese teachers and researchers of mathematics education since the 1980s. This feature of TTP is key to maximizing student learning of mathematical concepts as well as their ability to think mathematically.

Teaching Mathematics Through Problem Solving (Takahashi, 2021) proposed an outline of the four major types of Neriage, each with an example.

For those who want to try these examples, PDF files including worksheets and Neriage maps are available for free download in the member section.

A new set of resources, “TTP Unit: Building a Bridge from Arithmetic to Algebra,” is available for download.

What is Teaching Through Problem Solving (TTP)

Click here to read a short article by Tom McDougal and Akihiko Takahashi.

WALS (World Association of Lesson Studies) Online International Conference

November 2 (Monday) to November 4 (Wednesday), 2026

This year, WALS, the World Association of Lesson Studies, warmly invites you to share your ideas around lesson study with a global audience—all from the comfort of your home. With the conference online this year, please note there are a few differences in registration and proposal submission.

We encourage you to visit the following site and submit your proposal by April 15. We look forward to your participation!

Click here to learn more about the program and access the application form.