Unfamiliar problem contexts and vocabulary distract students from the mathematics and reasoning a problem requires¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · theoretical r1 · q1
Currency · newest study 2012 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q1 i? When a math problem uses foreign terms and concepts, students focus on the unfamiliar situation and vocabulary instead of the required mathematics and reasoning. → Preparing Problems for Classroom Instruction 2012

Evidence¶

Preparing Problems for Classroom Instruction 2012¶

Preparing Problems for Classroom Instruction. (2012). Improving Mathematical Problem Solving in Grades 4 Through Overview, U.S. Department of Education funded practice-guide presentation. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide/16

q1 · i? · theoretical · r1

This is the guide's expert assertion (type e) about why context familiarity matters: "they become distracted from the goal of the exercise" and focus on the unfamiliar situation and vocabulary. No data or study is cited in the document.

"When a math problem is couched in terms and concepts that are foreign to students, they become distracted from the goal of the exercise."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Attention — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Interesting but irrelevant details can impair comprehension and transfer, with effects that vary with the material and the learner — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Vocabulary Instruction Improves Comprehension — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Situated perspective explains Latino students' mathematical meaning-making in bilingual classrooms better than a discontinuity model (review reports Moschkovich, 1996) — related
• A WestEd research bulletin reports a curriculum revision that replaced a decorative photograph in a math problem with a problem-relevant sketch, on the developers' view that such photographs distract students — related