PROCEEDINGS OF THE 23RD ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2020
Boston, Massachusetts
Undergraduate students’ perspectives on what makes problem contexts engaging
Page: 1
Using engaging problem contexts is important in instruction, and the literature contains themes of contexts being realistic, worthwhile, or enjoyable, as well as motivating. Yet, the literature largely lacks detailed student perspectives on what helps problem contexts achieve these characteristics. In this study, eleven calculus students were interviewed to identify features of problems that made them engaging. This led to a new top-level characteristic “variety,” and the identification of features that helped contexts have the characteristics described in the literature. In particular, problems that were realistic/motivating contained features including: (a) expansion of awareness, (b) need for math, and/or (c) explicit purpose. Contexts that were enjoyable/motivating contained features including: (a) insertion into problem, (b) teacher’s personal story, or (c) absurd story. At the end, we show the usefulness of these results by critiquing problems from the literature in terms of how engaging they might be to students.