Evaluation of Teaching Activities with Multi-Variable Functions in Context

Abstract

In mathematics education in Japan, learning by practical problem solving is not emphasized because high school students and teachers focus more on the university entrance exam, leading to a lack of understanding of the essential meaning of mathematics and of relations between mathematics and daily life.These problems affect the teaching of various mathematical concepts. For instance, it cannot be said that the current mathematical education content in Japan sufficiently teaches functions. We propose teaching materials on functions that relate to and explain familiar events and function phenomena and in doing so deepen the students’ understanding of functions.