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Darjo Felda, Mara Cotič and Daniel Doz

derly column, so they can directly insert them into an appropriate formula.
They do not take the text as a description of the problem situation, often
failing to read it carefully enough to understand it. When practicing subtrac-
tion in school, it is already known in advance that subtraction will be nec-
essary for the numbers appearing in the problem text. The problem text is
quickly skimmed, the numbers are found, and a subtraction operation is writ-
ten without focusing on the described problem situation and discussing it.
The same is repeated in homework.

Mathematical Problems for Sustainability
Realistic Mathematical Problem
Problemsencounteredineverydaylife,whichwesolvewiththehelpofmath-
ematical knowledge, are usually open-ended problems with open-ended
goals. These are generally very complex problems with a lot of data, most of
which is irrelevant, and it is not necessarily the case that we immediately find
all the data needed to solve the problem. Typically, problems can be solved in
different ways and have multiple solutions, and each individual chooses the
solution or solutions that are most suitable or possible at the given moment.
In mathematics teaching and during schooling, we encounter only such real-
istic problems that are sufficiently simplified reflections of the real problem-
atic situation and thus adapted to the student’s developmental stage.
Solving a Realistic Mathematical Problem
Solving a realistic mathematical problem requires additional steps occur due
to the ‘translation’ of the realistic problem into mathematical language and
the translation of the mathematical solution back into everyday language,
which corresponds to the realistic problematic situation (Cotič & Felda, 2011).
Through mathematization or appropriate modelling, we should transition
from the real situation into the mathematical domain, where the problem
can be solved when translated into mathematical language. Then the math-
ematical solution is interpreted in the language of the real problematic situ-
ation (Müller & Wittmann, 1984). Students in the early years of schooling do
not perceive mathematics as a tool for solving realistic problems. For them,
mathematics represents a set of different things or objects, such as balls,
blocks, sticks, etc., with numbers. Thus, the modelling situation is actually
reversed for them, indicating a process of visualization or illustration (Peter-
Koop, 2004).
By manipulating objects in a real situation, a new real situation is cre-
ated that represents the result of the subtraction. The focus here is not on

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