NEWBURYPORT, Mass. -- What was supposed to be just another problem to solve for a freshman math class has turned into a controversy after a teacher used the Sept. 11 attacks as a word problem on a ...

Students often struggle to connect math with the real world. Word problems—a combination of words, numbers, and mathematical operations—can be a perfect vehicle to take abstract numbers off the page.

These student-constructed problems foster collaboration, communication, and a sense of ownership over learning.