The impact of realistic mathematics education on secondary school students’ problem-solving skills: a comparative evaluation study

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the impact of a Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) intervention on students’ mathematical problem-solving skills. A comparative evaluation study with a follow-up was conducted in a secondary school in Greece. The intervention engaged students in collaborative problem-solving. Overall, 124 10th-grade students participated in the study (74 in the intervention and 50 in the comparison group). A selection of items from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) was used for the assessments. The post-test results showed that students in the intervention group developed more their problem-solving skills than those in the comparison group. The effect size was d = 0.31, CI 95% [0.11, 0.51]. The intervention group also performed better in the follow-up assessment. This study shows the positive impact of the RME intervention on students’ problem-solving skills and discusses how even a short-term intervention can affect students’ performance in large-scale international assessments.

KEYWORDS:

• Mathematical problem-solving
• Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
• Secondary education

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr Hannah Bickerdike and Mr Matt McGinlay for helping us to improve the English translated version of the tasks included in the Appendix.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).