Realistic Mathematics Education

In the 1970s and 1980s, the development of the theory of Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) was started by the IOWO and the OW&OC, two predecessors of the Freudenthal Institute. As a reaction to formalistic and mechanistic methods, a new approach to mathematics education emerged: one in which (learning) mathematics is considered a human activity, experienced as meaningful by students. Students construct the meaning of mathematics from situations in the world around them or within mathematics itself. This view, based on concepts such as mathematizing, guided reinvention, and didactic phenomenology, quickly gained international recognition. For example, the emphasis on mathematical literacy in the international PISA test was inspired by ideas derived from the theory of Realistic Mathematics Education. Since then, mathematics education has continued to develop rapidly, partly under the influence of new digital tools and advancing insights about effectiveness of content and form. In the Freudenthal Institute's current subject didactic research, Realistic Mathematics Education is, like other subject didactic approaches, an important source of inspiration and one of the historical bases of the work.