- This topic has 1 reply, 2 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 2 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Dr. McCallum,
My understanding is that the frequent differentiation between Real-world and Mathematical problems refers to mathematical problems that are or are not contextualized. Is a problem considered to be Mathematical rather than Real-world when it is abstract and free of real-world context from beginning to end? Are problems in which a student must contextualize or decontextualize both considered to be Real-world problems?
Additionally, I’ve noted that the phrase “real-world and mathematical problems” is used throughout the standards, while there are several occurrences of “a real-world or mathematical problem” within the EE sections of 6th and 7th grade. Is any specific distinction intended by the two wording forms?
That’s very observant to notice the “or” versus “and.” I wouldn’t attach much significance to it, however. I think it’s just an editing inconsistency. The point of the phrase is simply to make clear that there is no demand to contextualize every problem, nor is there a demand that students must work on purely mathematical problems all the time. I suppose we could just have said “problems” rather than “real-world and mathematical problems,” but people tend to see what they want to see, so we wanted to make clear that any sort of problem was permissible.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.