Say it aloud.
What are your asked to find or show?
Can you restate the problem in your own words?
What do you know?
What do you need to know?
Do you have enough information?
What questions do you have?
Can you draw a picture or a diagram?
(* based on the work of George Polya)
talk to other people
use resources
choose a strategy
make a prediction
guess and check
make an orderly list
eliminate possibilities
consider special cases
look for a pattern
draw a picture or a diagram
use objects
solve a simpler problem
reason logically
brainstorm
write an equation
solve an equation
work backwards
use a formula
be ingenious
mathematize
do calculations
be persistent
refine and revise
Does the answer make sense?
Can you find the result differently?
Can you use the method for a different problem?