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Survey reveals students prefer curiosity-driven and relatable math problems, impacting recall rates.
Mathematics instructors incorporate various word problems to illustrate the wide-ranging practical applications of mathematical concepts. Premadasa and Bhatia (2013) categorized math word problems into three main categories: I (curiosity-driven), R (relatable), and U (unrelatable). The study reveals a clear preference among students for problems in categories I and R over those in category U. Building on this categorization, we conducted a survey in which students were asked to recall the word problems they encountered throughout the semester. Our findings confirm that students notably recall and engage more with category I problems compared to those categorized as U.
Wijetunge et al. (2025) studied this question.