In Chapter 7, Exploring the Differences the main theme highlights the comparison between traditional and reform approach where reform approach seems better than traditional methods. I think this chapter really showed how math became more meaningful and applicable for the students at Phoenix Park. The issue here is truly student motivation and how we can motivate them to want to be problem solvers. It may be as simple as finding something that interest the students enough. The hard part is what interest our students and what may work for one group, may not necessary work for another. The word problems we commonly use in our assessments are curriculum related word problems; they are extensions of rules and procedures that students have to learn in the classroom setting. In Math 3204, we get excited when we model half life problems because it has a real life application of population growth of bacteria or the absorption of medications into the blood stream. But in principle they are just like any other exponential story problem, the procedure is the same. But these types of word problems are not true problem solving scenarios. Do we ever truly give kids opportunities to make real life connections with mathematics?
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