Exploring the "Algebra Stories" Students Tell: Evaluating Personalized Problem-Posing

• In Event: Roundtable Session 52
  In Roundtable Session: Students' Understanding of Functions and Algebra

Abstract

Learning mathematics through connections to out-of-school interests like sports, music, and video games, can improve learning and motivation. While highly effective, this kind of “personalized” experience is costly to produce, and the quality is fleeting. An important question, then, is whether adolescents can themselves be enlisted as the designers of their own personalized learning experiences. In the present study, we examine the personalized algebra problems written by adolescents, evaluating their quality according to a rubric we developed. We find that adolescents can pose sensible algebra problems about their interests, that scores on the problem-posing rubric relate to skill and interest in algebra, and that certain conditions support better problem-posing.

Authors

• Candace A. Walkington, Southern Methodist University

• Matthew L. Bernacki, University of Nevada - Las Vegas