Real-world examples don't help students learn mathematics

Darkfrog submitted, created time 8 months 1 week (www.nytimes.com)

This study, performed once on college students and once on eleven-year-olds, suggests that students do NOT learn mathematics better if their lessons are peppered with real-life examples--the conclusion seems to be that the students remember the illustration, whether it's a train or a cup or a ski slope, instead of the underlying math. The study seems to recommend that teachers approach mathematics from principle only. This finding contests the long-held idea that familiar, colorful illustrations help students learn otherwise dull subjects.

I don't think that real-life examples should be completely removed from the classroom., although it sounds like it would be a good idea to separate them from the rest of the lesson. Mathematics is one valuable skill and figuring out how to apply it in the real world is another valuable skill. It should be taught, even if it costs us something.

Keywords: memory.learning education mathematics cognition