ERIC Number: EJ1149154
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Aug
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1863-9690
EISSN: N/A
Designing Learning Personalized to Students' Interests: Balancing Rich Experiences with Mathematical Goals
Walkington, Candace; Hayata, Carole A.
ZDM: The International Journal on Mathematics Education, v49 n4 p519-530 Aug 2017
Context personalization is an instructional design principle where tasks are presented to students in the context of their interest areas like sports, music, or video games. Personalization allows for understanding of domain principles to be grounded in concrete and familiar experiences. By making connections to prior knowledge, personalization may reduce extraneous cognitive load, freeing up resources for the acquisition of new ideas. However, issues with adding seductive details that may distract learners, as well as mismatch between in-school and out-of-school mathematics, must be critically considered when designing for personalized learning. We review the research on personalization in mathematics, interpreting conflicting results by highlighting key cognitive considerations. Personalization can be implemented at radically different levels of "depth," "grain size," and "ownership." We give an extended example of a promising intervention for personalized learning, drawing from research on problem-posing in algebra. We argue that interventions designed to draw upon students' experiences with quantities have potential to enhance learning. However, when the complex, situated experiences of students are mathematized, there is a tension between preserving the authenticity of their experience, and accomplishing desired mathematical goals.
Descriptors: Student Interests, Mathematics Instruction, Cognitive Processes, Difficulty Level, Individualized Instruction, Algebra, Instructional Design, Intervention
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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