{"id":23140,"date":"2024-07-23T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog-stage.cms-dev.nwea.org\/?p=23140"},"modified":"2024-08-27T14:34:18","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T21:34:18","slug":"6-tips-for-supporting-problem-based-learning-in-your-math-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/2024\/6-tips-for-supporting-problem-based-learning-in-your-math-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"6 tips for supporting\u00a0problem-based learning in your math classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"850\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/uploads\/2024\/08\/6-tips-for-supporting-problem-based-learning-in-your-math-classroom_850x300_hero.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-23141\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/uploads\/2024\/08\/6-tips-for-supporting-problem-based-learning-in-your-math-classroom_850x300_hero.jpg 850w, https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/uploads\/2024\/08\/6-tips-for-supporting-problem-based-learning-in-your-math-classroom_850x300_hero-300x106.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/uploads\/2024\/08\/6-tips-for-supporting-problem-based-learning-in-your-math-classroom_850x300_hero-768x271.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/uploads\/2024\/08\/6-tips-for-supporting-problem-based-learning-in-your-math-classroom_850x300_hero-720x254.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3rem\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>More and more, math teachers are being called upon to \u201cmake the learning relevant\u201d and provide real-world context and problem-based learning. This raises some questions: Pragmatically, is math irrelevant? More esoterically, what is \u201creal\u201d? And, most famously, \u201cWhen will we need to know this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most math teachers have been here before. We\u2019ve all transposed the names of our own students for those in a word problem. We\u2019ve all used our school community goings-on as fodder for plot lines: \u201cIf 89 middle schoolers are traveling on buses to Outdoor School, and each bus can transport 35 students and four chaperones.\u2026\u201d But how \u201creal world\u201d are we really getting?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2014Kailey Rhodes and Kristen Tsutsui, math teachers and authors of this blog post\u2014wanted to know teachers\u2019 experience with real-world problem-solving, what\u2019s going well, and what\u2019s in their way. So we surveyed some. In this post, we\u2019ll walk you through what we asked, learned, and think as we move forward\u2014and we\u2019ll also share the resources our teachers shared with us. But first, let us introduce you to an official definition of real-world context in the math classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The PISA Mathematics Framework<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.oecd.org\/en\/about\/programmes\/pisa.html\">PISA<\/a> is an international assessment administered to 15-year-olds globally. In their <a href=\"https:\/\/pisa2022-maths.oecd.org\/ca\/index.html\"><em>2022 Mathematics Framework<\/em><\/a>, PISA explains the underpinnings of their assessment as it relates to math literacy, reasoning, and problem-solving. It also stipulates that to uplift these underpinnings, mathematics problems should be presented in real-world contexts: personal, occupational, societal, and scientific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Educators, take a moment to read <a href=\"https:\/\/pisa2022-maths.oecd.org\/ca\/index.html#Contexts\">the descriptions of these contexts<\/a>. As you read, ask yourself the question we asked in our survey: \u201cWhich do you naturally find yourself gravitating toward in your classroom?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Personal:<\/strong> \u201cProblems classified in the personal context category focus on activities of one\u2019s self, one\u2019s family, or one\u2019s peer group. Personal contexts include (but are not limited to) those involving food preparation, shopping, games, personal health, personal transportation, sports, travel, personal scheduling, and personal finance.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Occupational:<\/strong> \u201cProblems classified in the occupational context category are centered on the world of work. Items categorized as occupational may involve (but are not limited to) such things as measuring, costing, and ordering materials for building, payroll\/accounting, quality control, scheduling\/inventory, design\/architecture, and job-related decision-making. Occupational contexts may relate to any level of the workforce, from unskilled work to the highest levels of professional work, although items in the PISA survey must be accessible to 15-year-old students.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Societal:<\/strong> \u201cProblems classified in the societal context category focus on one\u2019s community (whether local, national, or global). They may involve (but are not limited to) such things as voting systems, public transport, government, public policies, demographics, advertising, national statistics, and economics. Although individuals are involved in all of these things in a personal way, in the societal context category, the focus of problems is on the community perspective.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Scientific:<\/strong> \u201cProblems classified in the scientific category relate to the application of mathematics to the natural world and issues and topics related to science and technology. Particular contexts might include (but are not limited to) such areas as weather or climate, ecology, medicine, space science, genetics, measurement, and the world of mathematics itself. Items that are intra-mathematical, where all the elements involved belong in the world of mathematics, fall within the scientific context.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Which context did you most resonate with? If you were to focus on one context per quarter, how would you order them? What is your biggest struggle with real-world context and problem-based learning? How do you bring the \u201creal world\u201d inside your classroom?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We surveyed a focus group of math teachers, from kindergarten to IB, to see what they thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Survey says!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When we asked our teachers, \u201cWhich do you naturally find yourself gravitating toward in your classroom?\u201d personal and scientific contexts were the winners, with societal coming in fourth. Our guess for this is that societal is not only ever-changing but is also often politically adjacent, something educators can, understandably, be wary of approaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Naturally, personal real-world math context offers an entry point into students\u2019 interests, which is paramount in the math classroom. One teacher said, \u201cGood projects that connect to the curriculum and also interest the students are worth their weight in gold. I really wish publishers did a better job of planning good projects; in most books I\u2019ve used, the projects, if they exist at all, are an afterthought and poorly done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to other contexts, like societal, the bullseye of curriculum connection, student interest level, and math teacher time is a hard one to hit. As one teacher said, \u201cWith more time I would like to start new math topics with \u2018real world problems\u2019 and have the students brainstorm what knowledge would be useful to solve them, building resilience in the face of complex problems. However, these kinds of freeform explorations take time that I often feel like I don\u2019t have in my class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This theme of \u201cnot enough time\u201d appeared often, with teachers expressing a desire for more real-world presence, including cross-collaboration with other colleagues. A teacher said, \u201cI have tried to coordinate with science classes to talk about the mathematical aspects of science concepts they are learning, but it can be hard to coordinate and map those kinds of things onto my own curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was echoed in the teachers\u2019 comments, along with many wishful statements about what they \u201cwould do\u2026if.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">With all the time and resources, what would teachers do?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We asked teachers to describe their dream scenario: what they would do if they had more resources, time, and permission. In most responses, what stood out was teachers\u2019 love for math\u2019s interconnectedness and innate curiosity. Some dreamed big:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cAn interdisciplinary project across all subjects that would allow students to see how math applies to all facets of the world\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cSomething like \u2018a history of mathematical thought,\u2019 bringing history, culture, psychology, ecology, science, and engineering into the curriculum\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cStudents being given the opportunity to explore a problem they are passionate about and explore ways that mathematics can be used to help solve it\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cStudents working alongside professionals in various math-related fields so they can see, firsthand, how the math they are learning is currently being used\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s clear that teachers want to provide classroom experiences that both underscore math\u2019s omnipresence in the world around us and ignite students\u2019 interests. It\u2019s also clear that when your survey takers have to type qualifiers like, \u201cBut this would take a lot of time\u201d and \u201cWe don\u2019t have the resources for this,\u201d the \u201creal world\u201d is actually what\u2019s in the way. So, what can be done?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">From ideal to real: Helpful tips &amp; a relaxing thought on problem-based learning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>No one knows better than math teachers that you can\u2019t add time to your school day. &nbsp;But, through our interactions with teachers, we walked away with some resources and tips to share with you. Here are the gems:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Split it into quadrants.<\/strong> Most teachers surveyed would order their quarters and contexts like this: first quarter, personal; second quarter, societal; third quarter, scientific; fourth quarter, occupational.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Switch with science. <\/strong>One teacher said this: \u201cActually switch classes with a science teacher to reiterate how what they are learning in science is related to what we do in math. And then they can come to my class to do the same so they can really understand the connection.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Draw a parallel. <\/strong>\u201cHave a project that seems like it might belong in an arts classroom, like creating a piece of clothing,\u201d another teacher suggested. \u201cThey have to use multiple modes of mathematical knowledge to do this, like unit conversions (centimeters to inches to yards), spatial constraints (if fabric is a certain size, can I fit my pattern in it? How big do the pieces have to be to fit on the body?), and area (how much fabric do I need?).\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Estimate. <\/strong>\u201cI use <a href=\"https:\/\/estimation180.com\/\">Estimation 180<\/a>, but I gamify it to address average, mean, median, and mode. I have students secretly record their estimations, and I write them all on the board. We discuss the average classroom guess and how close our range is. Estimation is everywhere.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Level up.<\/strong> \u201cI\u2019ve been using <a href=\"https:\/\/skewthescript.org\/\">Skew the Script<\/a> to heighten engagement for all my students and teach them about larger global issues affecting society. Their <a href=\"https:\/\/skewthescript.org\/data-science-challenge\">After The AP Data Science Challenge<\/a> aims to solve the real (unsolved) problem of finding a model to predict the best and worst colleges for conquering student debt.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Build the roster:<\/strong> \u201cTry to arrange a handful of yearly speakers and field trips you can count on to bring the math to life. My husband is a civil engineer and uses the Pythagorean theorem. You\u2019d be surprised how many folks would love to come in and talk to a math class\u2014with your teacher guidance and enthusiasm, of course.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>And now for the relaxing thought: Start small. As with any endeavor in the classroom, no matter the discipline, the key is to work incrementally. We already know how important increments are, right, math teachers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is \u201creal,\u201d anyway?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s return to the age-old question of, \u201cWhen will we ever use this?\u201d It plagues math teachers perhaps more than any other discipline, and the task of \u201creal-world\u201d problem-solving often feels like a \u201cgotcha\u201d moment. The fact is, sometimes, we math teachers don\u2019t have a great real-world example of dividing negative fractions in our back pocket. But does that mean that it isn\u2019t worth learning? Must every concept in math be nested perfectly within the \u201creal\u201d world?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In one particular mic-drop moment, one of our teachers shared, \u201cI think the label \u2018real-world\u2019 has been used extensively in math education, and I&#8217;ve found it a bit frustrating. In many regards, math is the least \u2018real\u2019 discipline we teach children. It is, largely, the art of abstraction! That it is \u2018real\u2019 is in many ways the least interesting and important thing about it as a system of thinking, and this is often lost when continually looked at with the question \u2018When will we ever use this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe when we\u2019ll \u201cuse this\u201d is when we\u2019re thinking through a problem with many facets and variables. Math is, after all, less of a \u201cwhat\u201d and more of a \u201chow.\u201d How should we go about solving this? How do we use computational thinking to solve problems? How do we spiral what we already know with what we don\u2019t?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019re teaching kids <em>how to think<\/em>\u2014and isn\u2019t that the most real-world skill we can possibly teach?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To learn more about how NWEA can support you in teaching math, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/professional-learning\/content-focused-professional-learning-math-and-literacy-suites\/\">visit our website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>More and more, math teachers are being called upon to \u201cmake the learning relevant\u201d and provide real-world context and problem-based learning. This raises some questions: Pragmatically, is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":183,"featured_media":23142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"More and more, math teachers are being called upon to \u201cmake the learning relevant\u201d and provide real-world context and problem-based learning.","footnotes":""},"categories":[649],"tags":[619,622,627],"grade_level":[830,831,832,833],"product":[],"theme":[],"coauthors":[{"id":183,"name":"Kailey Rhodes, NWEA","link":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/author\/krhodes\/","avatar_urls":{"24":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","48":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","96":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif"}},{"id":333,"name":"Kristen Tsutsui, NWEA","link":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/author\/kristen-tsutsui\/","avatar_urls":{"24":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cropped-Kristen-Tsutsui-bio-pic-24x24.jpg","48":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cropped-Kristen-Tsutsui-bio-pic-48x48.jpg","96":"https:\/\/www.nwea.org\/blog\/uploads\/2024\/07\/cropped-Kristen-Tsutsui-bio-pic-96x96.jpg"}}],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.14 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>6 tips for supporting\u00a0problem-based learning in your math classroom - Teach. 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