Making sense of word problems
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Making sense of word problems
(Contexts of learning)
Swets & Zeitlinger Publishers, c2000
- : hard
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Note
Includes bibliographical references and indexes
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Word problems have been a staple of mathematics instruction for centuries, yet the rationale for their use has remained largely unexamined. A range of findings have shown how students consistently answer them in ways that fail to take account of the reality of the situations described. This monograph reports on studies carried out to investigate this "suspension of sense-making" in answering word problems.
In Part One, a wide range of examples documenting the strength of the phenomenon is reviewed. Initial surprise at the findings was replaced by a conviction that the explanation lies in the culture of the mathematics classroom, specifically the rules implicitly governing the nature and interpretation of the word problem genre.
This theoretical shift is reflected in Part Two. A detailed analysis of the way in which word problems are currently taught in typical mathematical classrooms is followed by reviews of design experiments illustrating how, by immersing students in a fundamentally changed learning environment, they can acquire what the authors consider to be more appropriate conceptions about, and strategies for doing, word problems.
Part Three turns to a wider discussion of theoretical issues, a further analysis of the features of the educational system considered responsible for outcomes detrimental to many students' understanding and conception of mathematics, and suggestions for rethinking the role of word problems within the curriculum.
Table of Contents
Part 1: Suspension of Sense-making: Documenting the Phenomenon
Chapter 1: Examples of Suspension of Sense-making in the Mathematics Classroom
Chapter 2: Suspension of Sense-making: Ascertaining the Problem
Chapter 3: Effects of Alerting Students about Problematic Word Problems
Chapter 4: Increasing the Authenticity of the Experimental Setting
Part 2: The Educational Environment: Analysis and Reform
Chapter 5: The Effects of Traditional Mathematics Education
Chapter 6: Beyond Ascertaining Studies: Applying the Modeling Perspective
Part 3: Word Problems from a Modeling Perspective
Chapter 7: Mathematical Modeling of Aspects of Reality
Chapter 8: Socio-cultural Contexts of Word Problems
Chapter 9: Reconceptualizing the Role of Word Problems
by "Nielsen BookData"