Where is the context in contextual word problems?: Mathematical practices and products in grade 8 students' answers to story problems

This study investigates students' approaches to contextual word and story problems. It shows that problems in school mathematics do not become contextual by embedding them in more descriptions of story situations. Rather, a problem is contextualized if the mathematical practices in which students engage are integrated in a larger array of meaningful practices. During an ecology unit, Grade 8 students were observed in two types of situations: (a) open-inquiry field studies that included the production of convincing representations (inscriptions) to support findings and (b) word problems with stories and student-produced data based on these field studies. Analyses of students' mathematical practices show that word problems did not become more contextual, although the story situations were very familiar to the students (describing an aspect of their own activities) and although the inscription used to present information had been previously produced by one of the students. Students' inscription-oriented practices in word-problem situations contrasted with those during field work.