Suspension of Sense-making in Mathematical Word Problem Solving: a Possible Remedy

In common teaching practice the habit of connecting mathematics classroom activities with reality is still substantially delegated to word problems. But besides representing the interplay between mathematics and reality, word problems often are the sole example of realistic mathematical modeling and problem solving. During the past decades, a growing body of empirical research (e.g. Freudenthal, Schoenfeld, Verschaffel, De Corte) has documented that the practice of word problem solving in school mathematics promote in the students an exclusion of realistic considerations and a “suspension” of sense-making and hardly matches the idea of mathematical modeling and mathematization. If we wish situations of realistic mathematical modeling, that is both real-world based and quantitatively constrained sense-making, we have to make changes: i) we have to replace the word problem solving with classroom activities that are more relatable to the experiential worlds of the pupils and consistent with a sense-making disposition; ii) we will ask for a change in the teacher conceptions, beliefs and attitude towards mathematics; iii) a directed effort to change the classroom socio-math norms will be needed. In this paper we discuss how these changes can be realized through classroom activities based on the use of suitable cultural artifacts and interactive teaching methods.