Introduction to Realistic Mathematics Education

Prof. Sutarto Hadi

SEAMEO Regional Centre for Quality Improvement of Teachers and Education Personnel
(QITEP) in Mathematics
2013
 Table of Contents

Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................. i

Introduction to Realistic Mathematics Education...............................................................................1

A. What is Realistic Mathematics Education? .............................................................................1

B. The History ..............................................................................................................................1

C. The different between RME and conventional approach .......................................................2

D. Horizontal and vertical mathematization ...............................................................................4

E. Iceberg Metaphor....................................................................................................................5

F. RME Tenets, Characteristics and Key Aspects.........................................................................5

G. Progressive Formalization/Schematization.............................................................................7

H. Guided Reinvention.................................................................................................................8

Introduction to Realistic Mathematics Education | i

ii | Introduction to Realistic Mathematics Education
 Introduction to Realistic Mathematics Education

A. What is Realistic Mathematics Education?

Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) is a theory of teaching and learning of
mathematics which put emphasize on students exploration - whether alone or in a group
- to real-world problem as a starting point in their journey to develop their mathematical
understanding. This theory is dealing with three aspects of teaching and learning, those
are mathematics itself, how students learn mathematics, and how mathematics should
be taught.

RME finds its basis in Freudenthal's (1971,1977) idea that mathematics is a human
activity, and consequently must "be connected to reality, stay close to children and
should be relevant to society. Students should learn mathematics by developing and
applying mathematical concepts and tools in daily-life problem situations that make
sense to them" (Van Den Heuvel-Panhuizen, 2003). Contexts are used which are
meaningful to students, but may as equally be based on fantasy as on "real-world"
scenarios. The main concern in RME is that the problem is imaginable no matter it is real
or just a fiction.

The idea behind this scenario is that students are expected to re-invented mathematics
concepts and ideas. In RME students are seen as re-inventors. The role of teachers are
guiding and making conscious to student the mathematization of reality, with an eye to
encouraging students to reflect on the process. RME demands that teachers establish a
link between children’s own world and the world of mathematics ideas.

B. The History
RME theory is originally developed in the Netherlands. Professor Hans Fredenthal (1905-
1990) and his colleagues had designed an approach of mathematics teaching and
learning. Freudenthal believed that children may work as mathematicians in inventing
mathematical formulas. According to him learning process might be arranged in favor to
students to use every single situation and opportunity to reinvent mathematics by

Introduction to Realistic Mathematics Education | 1

themselves. Many problems could be developed from various contexts which are thought
meaningful as learning resources.

RME later gains attentions from scholars around the world due to research and
development conducted by Dutch mathematics educators who work at Freudenthal
Institute. They are not only implementing RME in the Netherlands schools but also in the
USA (MiC Project) and other parts of the world such as South Africa (REMESA) and in
Indonesia (PMRI).

C. The different between RME and conventional approach

Comparing classroom approach between RME and conventional approaches we may find
several differences.

 In RME the learning is started by giving students contextual problems so that they
can involve in the learning process immediately. While in conventional class
teacher starts with explaining formal procedures of mathematics, usually followed
by examples to enhance their understanding to the procedures explained. In RME
the role of the teacher is mostly as facilitator in guidance students to their re-
invention of mathematics ideas from informal to formal one.

 In conventional approach context is used as applications of formal mathematics.

While in RME context is used as sources and goals.

 The context in RME has a function as vehicle to connect several mathematics

strands. Context is not intended to single entity of mathematics, but students
remaining in the context throughout the lesson to gradually develop their
mathematics understanding which covering several ideas across mathematics
strands.

 Students’ activity and interactivity is the main ingredient of RME lesson. Students
may work alone and in a group (through discussion and reflection) in dealing with
the problems.

2 | Introduction to Realistic Mathematics Education

The following are some pictures of goods that can be seen in the market. In
each case students may think about the exact or an estimate of the goods
shown.

Introduction to Realistic Mathematics Education | 3

D. Horizontal and vertical mathematization
The RME theory is developed based on the belief of mathematics as human activity. In
the process to understand mathematics students progress from informal (experiential) to
pre-formal (structure) to more formal notation that is the generalizable that can be
utilized on any problem. This progression is a combination of horizontal and vertical
mathematization.

In horizontal mathematization (HM) students start from realistic problems and try to
describe them using their own strategy which mostly informal and less structured. They
might refine their solutions to pre-formal (structure) during discussion and reflection. In
vertical mathematization (VM) students utilized their pre-formal solution to develop
certain procedures. These procedures later can be used to solve any analogue problem
directly without the help of context.

Freudenthal (1991) stated that HM involves going from the world of life into the world of
symbols, while VM means moving within the world of symbols. But he adds that the
difference between these two types is not always clear cut.

The following activities are examples of HM: identifying or describing the specific
mathematics in a general context, schematizing, formulating and visualizing a problem in
different ways, discovering relations, discovering regularities, recognizing isomorphic
aspect in different problems, transferring a real world problem to a mathematical
problem, and transferring a real world problem to a known mathematical problem. On
the other hand, VM is the process of reorganization within the mathematical system
itself. The following activities are example of VM: representing a relation in a formula,
proving regularities, refining and adjusting models, using different models, combining and
integrating models, formulating a mathematical model, and generalizing.

This is often described in their Iceberg Metaphor.

4 | Introduction to Realistic Mathematics Education

E. Iceberg Metaphor

Teachers have a tendency to invest a lot in the teaching and training of the top of the
iceberg (formal mathematics, sums) whereas most of the important insights and skills are
developed before that (floating capacity). Especially for the lower achievers, one should
take time to create a solid basis... The iceberg has proved to be a very powerful metaphor
to suggest how children need a broad range of mathematical representations and
experiences to make sense of the formal mathematical representations.

Models at the informal levels are models-of and models at the pre-formal level
are models-for, and are used as a basis for reasoning and reflection.

F. RME Tenets, Characteristics and Key Aspects

Four tenets of RME

Tenet One: Starting point is experientially real to the student.

Tenet Two: Multiple learning lines can be mapped through resources of the domain to a
potential end point.

Tenet Three: The real phenomena in which the formalization occurs produces
connections

Introduction to Realistic Mathematics Education | 5

Tenet Four: The instructional sequences involve activities in which students reveal or
create models of their informal mathematical activity. Students’ models of their informal
mathematical activity can evolve into models for increasingly abstract mathematical
reasoning.

In summary, RME can be described by means of the following five characteristics

(Treffers, 1987):

 The use of contexts.

 The use of models.
 The use of students’ own productions and constructions.
 The interactive character of the teaching process.
 The intertwinement of various learning strands.

Eade (2004) outlined the key aspects of RME as follows:

 It is realistic - In Dutch, the word zich realiseren means to imagine, and so the
term 'realistic' refers to situations which can be imagined (Panhuizen, 2003). RME
initially presents knowledge within such a concrete context allowing pupils to
develop informal strategies, but gradually through the process of guided
'mathematization', allows students to progress to more formal, abstract, standard
strategies. (Note that these contexts are chosen to help students' mathematical
development, not simply because they are interesting!) As Bell and Shiu have
suggested 'Abstract relationships are expressed by symbol-systems, and rules are
developed for the manipulation...meaning can only be restored to the
manipulations by recognising the underlying concepts' (1981:1). It is where no
meaning is offered that misconceptions arise.

The RME problems, set in real world contexts, are presented, so that along with
giving meaning and making mathematics more accessible to learners, they also
illustrate the countless ways in which mathematics can be applied.

6 | Introduction to Realistic Mathematics Education

  It involves 'mathematization' - This can be split into two kinds.

o (i) HM: This is suggested by Harrison (2003) to be the students' discovery of

mathematical tools that can help to organize and solve a problem located in a
real-life situation.
o (ii) VM: This refers to the 'building up' to create more challenging
mathematics and hence to a greater use of abstract strategies.

 It is procedural vs. algorithmic - RME stresses understanding processes, rather

than learning algorithms. Students 'discover' the mathematics for themselves, and
so multiple solutions are encouraged and valued.

 It incorporates the use of effective models - The use of various models e.g. ratio
tables and combination charts, provide a more visual process of doing
mathematics.

 It encourages 'guided reinvention' - As indicated by Gravemeijer et al (Article 2),

this implies beginning with the range of informal strategies provided by students,
and building on these to promote the materialization of more sophisticated ways
of symbolising and understanding. Due to students' directing the course of
lessons, RME requires a highly 'constructivist' approach to teaching, in which
children are no longer seen as receivers of knowledge but the makers of it'
(Nickson, 2000:5), and the role of the teacher is that of a facilitator.

 It promotes 'historical simulation' - Allowing the students to begin at the basics,

using informal strategies and constructing the mathematics for themselves,
simulates the discovery of the mathematics and allows them to appreciate the
complexity of the mathematics.

G. Progressive Formalization/Schematization
According to Freudenthal, mathematics can be best be learned by doing, and
mathematizing is the goal of mathematics education. Freudenthal distinguishes
'horizontal' and 'vertical' mathematizing. Initially, HM is the process of ordering, applying

Introduction to Realistic Mathematics Education | 7

mathematical models to, and solving problems rooted in daily life. VM involves
manipulating and moving within the mathematical system itself. "To mathematize
horizontally means to go from the world of life to the world of symbols, to mathematize
vertically means to move within the world of symbols" (Van Den Heuvel-Panhuizen,
2003). The transition from H to V mathematizing, and facility in VM are core goals of
RME.

HM is the first step in progressive formalization. As noted previously, this is the gradual
transition from, whether instinctive or acquired in earlier phases of education, through
pre-formal strategies, which pupils' naive strategies expand the initial models developed
to systemize the naive strategies, to more formalized strategies of symbolic
representation.

How People Learn describes progressive formalization as one of the “approaches to the
development of curricula that supports learning with understanding and encourages
sense making.”

Progressive formalization describes a learning sequence that begins with informal

strategies and knowledge, developing these into pre-formal methods that are still linked
with concrete experiences, models, and strategies.

H. Guided Reinvention
Guided by the instructional materials and the teacher as facilitator, the pre-formal
models and strategies progressively develop into more formal and abstract mathematical
procedures, concepts, and insights.

Mathematics education organized as a process of guided reinvention, where students can

experience a similar process compared to the process by which mathematics was
invented. The meaning of invention is steps in learning processes while the meaning of
guided is the instructional environment of the learning process. For example, the history
of mathematics can be used as a source of inspiration for course design. Moreover, the
reinvention principle can also be inspired by informal solution procedures. Informal
strategies of students can often be interpreted as anticipating more formal procedures. In
this case, the reinvention process uses concepts of mathematization as a guide.
8 | Introduction to Realistic Mathematics Education