A CRITICAL APPROACH TO SCHOOL MATHEMATICAL KNOWLEDGE: THE CASE OF “REALISTIC” PROBLEMS IN GREEK PRIMARY SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS FOR SEVEN-YEAR-OLD PUPILS

The reference contexts that accompany the “realistic” problems chosen for teaching mathematical concepts in the first school grades play a major educational role. However, choosing “realistic” problems in teaching is a complex process that must take into account various pedagogical, sociological and psychological parameters. This paper presents a selection of problems from the new mathematics textbook of the 2nd grade of Greek primary school which were solved and commented upon by 27 postgraduate students. The results of our research showed that the empirical reference contexts put forward in these problems create many difficulties in their “deciphering”, which leads us to conclude that their pedagogical role is problematic.