RUME 28
2026
Alexandria, Virginia
The Role of Context in Adult Undergraduates’ Problem Solving
Page: 1341
To explore the role of context in adult learner’s problem solving, we designed two tasks with similar mathematical structure but set in different real-world contexts. The goal was to consider in what ways adult learners approached these similarly structured mathematical tasks, and in what ways the contexts of the scenarios influenced their problem-solving. Because we aimed to elicit connections to prior experiences, we conducted clinical interviews with two adult learners using missing value proportion tasks. We analyzed (1) how they solved each task, (2) how they thought about the similarities and differences across the two tasks, and (3) how they reflected on their solving processes. We found 5 different ways of solving in terms of the main ratio the student leveraged and how they leveraged the ratio. We found context played a role in solving, with participants reflecting on prior experiences both in math classrooms and in their personal life.