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Mathematics has been described as a "fundamental human endeavour that empowers individuals to describe,analyse,and understand the world we live in"(Expert Panel on Student Success in Mathematics in Ontario,2004,p.9).Dwelling on the specific field of problem solving in mathematics,the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement(IEA)stated in its 2012 report that,"… mathematics problem solving builds logical reasoning skills that can be applied in many situations"(Arora,Foy,Martin,& Mullis,2012,p.25).It has been opined in research literature that the acquisition of problem-solving skills is largely dependent on a set of inter-related factors including the learners cultural background,mathematical knowledge,and prior experiences; and the teachers mathematics content knowledge,skills,and confidence(Ezeife,2016; Ontario Ministry of Education,2003).With problem solving as the theme,this study investigated if,and to what extent,elementary school students were taught to use multiple methods in solving mathematics problems.The study was conducted in a cross-cultural setting involving two elementary schools in Canada,and China.Research data were collected from the two Sister Schools in the Canada-China Reciprocal Learning Project(Connelly & Xu,2014).Data emerged through direct and indirect interactions between the two schools,including Skype meetings and inter-school visits among Canadian/Chinese teachers,researchers,and administrators.Data coding techniques based on grounded theory were employed to explore and analyse the differences/commonalities of solving problems in the two schools.The summary of results indicate that: ·In the two schools,students were encouraged to use multiple strategies when solving problems; ·Approaches used by the students were impacted on,or influenced by the methods they usually(commonly)adopt,and are taught; ·Canadian and Chinese teachers differ slightly in their perspectives on,and approaches to,teaching problem solving.Canadian teachers mentioned that they would invite students to discuss possible methods of solving a given problem,but they would not suggest the optimal methods,instead the students decide the methods they like.On the contrary,Chinese teachers mentioned that they would discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the different potential methods,and then give suggestions on when to use the different methods.