![A close up of a pair of hands using realistic mathematics materials](https://www.mmu.ac.uk/sites/default/files/styles/page_header_half/public/2021-01/Realistic-maths-education-header_0.jpg?h=bb941b98&itok=ZUYZskh9)
Research: Realistic Mathematics Education — Making Sense of Mathematics
Working with Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) for more than 15 years, our latest project is a nationwide trial at Key Stage 3.
Project summary
Research summary
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October 2018 to April 2021
RME builds on students’ informal understanding of context to generate mathematical models and a deep understanding of where mathematics comes from.
Contexts can be taken from the real world, but also from fantasy or an area of mathematics that students are already familiar with.
This project is the fourth in a programme of RME curriculum research and development that began in 2004.
Previous trials have involved the design and testing of RME materials at Key Stages 3 and 4, and post-16 GCSE resit.
This randomised controlled trial involves more than 130 Key Stage 3 teachers and their students across England. A major component of the trial has been a professional development programme to support teachers in the implementation of the key pedagogic strategies which underpin RME.
![A teacher delivering a presentation using realistic mathematics education examples](https://www.mmu.ac.uk/sites/default/files/styles/16_9_two_column/public/2021-01/teacher%201%20cropped%201000.jpg?h=1e3e0441&itok=diyD6r7z)
Realistic Mathematics Education
Find out more about RME, our previous research, our materials, and how you can get involved.Research outputs
- Dickinson, P., Eade, F., Gough, S. Hough, S. & Solomon, Y (2019) Implementing RME in England and the Cayman Islands – dealing with clashing educational ideologies, in Marja Van den Heuvel-Panhuizen (ed) International reflections on the Netherlands Didactics of Mathematics, Springer
- Hough, S., Solomon, Y., Dickinson, P. and Gough, S. (2017) Investigating the impact of a Realistic Mathematics education approach on achievement and attitudes in Post-16 GCSE resit classes. Final Report to the Nuffield Foundation, Manchester: Manchester Metropolitan University.
- Solomon, Y., Hough, S. & Gough, S. (2020) The role of appropriation in guided reinvention: establishing and preserving devolved authority with low-attaining students, Educational Studies in Mathematics
Research team
Research team
Lead researcher
Materials designers and researchers
Funding
With funding from
![Education Endowment Foundation logo](/sites/default/files/styles/logo_scalable/public/2020-12/Education%20Endowment%20Foundation.png?itok=udCVxZof)
Education Endowment Foundation
Contact
Contact us
For general enquiries about the Education and Social Research Institute’s mathematics education group, you can contact research group lead Prof Ricardo Nemirovsky.