Adapting the Thematic Context of Mathematical Problems to Student Interests: Individualized versus Group-Based Strategies

Abstract

Strategies were examined for adapting the context of mathematical materials to student interests. In the learner-choice adaptive strategy, word problems were presented in contexts that individuals selected from four options: education, medical, sports, and abstract. In the standard adaptive strategy, context was selected for subjects according to academic major. Nonadaptive strategies consisted of administering either individuals' least preferred contexts or abstract contexts. Two experiments, using nursing majors and education majors as subjects, favored adaptive contexts on a variety of achievement and attitude measures. No differences, however, occurred between the learner-choice and standard adaptive strategies. Implications of results for increasing students' confidence and proficiency in solving word problems are discussed.