Smith, C. (Ed.) Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics 31(3) November 2011 From Informal Proceedings 31-3 (BSRLM) available at bsrlm.org.uk © the author - 47 Evaluating the impact of a Realistic Mathematics Education project in secondary schools Paul Dickinson*, Susan Hough*, Jeff Searle** and Patrick Barmby** *Manchester Metropolitan University, **Durham University Over the past 30 years researchers at the Freudenthal Institute in the Netherlands have developed a mathematics curriculum and a theory of pedagogy known as Realistic Mathematics Education (RME). This curriculum uses realisable contexts to help pupils to develop mathematically. In 1991, the University of Wisconsin, in collaboration with the Freudenthal Institute, started to develop a middle school curriculum based on RME called ‘Maths in Context’. A related Mathematics in Context (MiC) project was carried out in England in 2004 to 2007 at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) with Key Stage 3 pupils. This initial pilot project was evaluated by Anghileri (2006). In 2007, the ideas behind the project were extended to include Key Stage 4 pupils, particularly those studying towards Foundation GCSE Mathematics, and given the project title Making Sense of Mathematics (MSM). MSM has been running as a pilot project in some Manchester schools since 2007. Both these projects were recently evaluated by Durham University, with revaluation of test data from the original MiC project using Rasch analysis, interviews with teachers from both projects, and observations of the RME approach in lessons. This paper presents the findings from the Durham University evaluation, and discusses the impact of RME on both pupils and teachers. Keywords: realistic mathematics, secondary, understanding, Rasch analysis Introduction - Background to RME Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) is an approach to teaching utilised in the Netherlands and developed over a period of thirty years. Based on the work of Freudenthal, and developed by researchers working at the Freudenthal Institute, the approach is significantly different to the approaches used in England in a number of respects. Here we focus on three of these; the use of context, the use of models, and the notion of progressive formalisation. Prior to working with RME, most of our teachers used contexts as a means of providing interesting introductions to topics, and then for testing whether or not pupils could use their knowledge to answer ‘applications’ questions. Under RME, however, context is seen as both the starting point and as the source for learning mathematics (Treffers 1987). This role of context is seen as crucial in order that pupils continue to make sense of and stay close to their mathematics. Moreover, a particular context is selected not because of its ‘real worldness’, but because of its richness in giv ing rise to a variety of solution procedures and reflecting within it the mathematical structures that are being worked on (Gravemeijer 1997). It is being used not for application but for construction (Fosnot and Dolk 2002). Theoretically, models are given the role of bridging the gap between informal understanding connected to ‘reality’ on the one hand, and the understanding of more