Monday, May 13, 2013

Another (Faux) Context

This is one of the student worksheets that comes with the textbook I'm using.  I can understand having differently sized boxes for paper clips.  They seem small enough that they can fit into a variety of packaging.  But pens and envelopes?!  Isn't there a missing context here:  pens and envelopes have a fixed size!  Would the pens (#2) in the 4x5x3 box fix in the other boxes?  How long are they?  Likewise, what size are the envelopes (#3)?  Are they a standard size?  It seems that any link to reality must be omitted for a student to be successful with questions. 

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