The role of context and context familiarity on mathematics problems

Abstract

The mathematics education literature advocates the use of mathematics problems embedded in different contexts and therefore different mathematics curricula reflect this recommendation. A number of theoretical arguments support this, but the influence of context, and specifically the role of context familiarity, on students’ performance is an issue that is not yet fully understood. After a literature review, it is argued in this paper that ninety - odd years of research on problem context and students’ performance suggest that nothing firm can be said about this relationship, because evidence about this relationship is undeniably sparse. Given that context takes on a number of meanings in the literature, this paper starts by clarifying and differentiating this term from others. Then, theoretical arguments and empirical research are reviewed in relation to the role of context and context familiarity on students’ performance.