When a real-life quilt problem was turned into a contextualized mathematics task, its context dropped out during solving and both designers judged it too school-like¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · qualitative r2 · q1
Currency · newest study 2023 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q1 i? The researcher reflected that once mathematical relationships were recognized, the context of the quilt task was removed in the solution process and it changed back to a pure math problem. → Lili Zhou 2023 q1 i? Neither collaborator was very satisfied with the task: the informal educator found it too school, and the researcher felt it reflected optimization but not all she wanted to communicate. → Lili Zhou 2023 (2)

Evidence¶

Lili Zhou 2023¶

Lili Zhou. (2023). Humanizing Mathematics through Boundary Crossing Collaboration. Proceedings of the forty-fifth annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 2). https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED658339

q1 · i? · qualitative · r2

Reflection stage of the narrative inquiry's account of developing Ms. Jones's Quilt Problem; the researcher's written reflection. She observed the context "is even removed in the solution process" and the task "changes back to a pure math problem". Interpretive, no data collected from learners.

"However, as mathematical relationships are recognized, the context is not important anymore and is even removed in the solution process. It changes back to a pure math problem."

Lili Zhou 2023 (2)¶

Lili Zhou. (2023). Humanizing Mathematics through Boundary Crossing Collaboration. Proceedings of the forty-fifth annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (Vol. 2). https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED658339

q1 · i? · qualitative · r2

Reflection stage of the same narrative inquiry. Both designers "were not very satisfied with the problem": one thought it "too school", the other that it reflected optimization only. Designers' judgements, not learner outcomes.

"Laura and I were not very satisfied with the problem in the reflection. Laura thought it was too school, and I believed it reflects the idea of optimization, which is a goal of mathematics but not all I wanted to communicate."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The closer training content is to authentic clinical scenarios, the smoother its translation into practice — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• A systematic review argues that concrete materials aid mathematics and science learning when they are explicitly and gradually connected to the abstract symbols they represent — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• In one narrative inquiry, boundary crossing collaboration between a mathematics education researcher and an informal educator created a space for a new understanding of mathematics as normal human practice — related
• Expanding the quilt task into an integrated STEM project was judged by its two designers to give students multiple entry points and to feel fun rather than too school-like — reports the opposite
• A dynamic geometry model of the quilt problem helped an informal educator understand its spatial relations — related
• Narrative inquiry uses research puzzles rather than research problems because it is a searching again rather than a problem with a clear solution — related
• Students responded most positively to projects that felt authentic and were organized in a clear sequence with manageable milestones — related
• Learning-stories research indicates meaningful learning involves felt ownership of knowledge, emotional integration, generativity, real-life context, interaction with others' learning, and transformed self-perceptions — related