Utilizar las matemáticas para resolver problemas reales
- Vicente Martín, Santiago
- Dooren, Wim Van
- Verschaffel, Lieven
ISSN: 1135-6405, 1578-4118
Year of publication: 2008
Issue Title: Aprendizaje de las matemáticas y práctica educativa
Volume: 20
Issue: 4
Pages: 391-406
Type: Article
More publications in: Culture and Education, Cultura y Educación
Abstract
This paper analyses the reasons underlying children's difficulties when solving realistic wor(l)d problems in the mathematics class. In order to do so, first, international studies on these difficulties are reported. Second, we describe how characteristics of the current textbooks and classroom interaction led children to learn that mathematical problems must be solved by using only mathematical information and procedures, and not by attending to relevant real-world aspects of these problems, and how this learning process moves away the mathematics of the school from the real life. Third, an intervention study that showed how the classroom practice and culture can be successfully modified is described. Finally, some comments about the limits of these ideas are made.