Making Sense of Word Problems

Word problems have been a staple of mathematics instruction for centuries and across many cultures, yet the rationale for their use has remained largely unexamined until recently. A range of striking findings have shown how students consistently answer them in ways that fail to take account of the reality of the situations described. In this monograph, the authors report, and reflect upon, studies carried out to investigate this "suspension of sense-making".In Part I, 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 II. A detailed analysis of the way in which word problems are currently taught in typical mathematical classrooms is followed by reviews of design experiments illustratinghow, 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 III 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.Verschaffel, Lieven is the author of 'Making Sense of Word Problems' with ISBN 9789026516283 and ISBN 9026516282.