This research describes the perspective of secondary school teachers on the selection, elaboration, and implementation of contextualized mathematical problems in secondary education in Costa Rica. An exploratory and descriptive quantitative study is carried out, applying a questionnaire to 67 in-service secondary school mathematics teachers. The dimensions of the sources used by teachers, the difficulties encountered and the learners’ background considered for problem selection and elaboration are analyzed. In addition, the contexts present in the problems that teachers propose are classified. The results indicate that teachers use textbooks for the selection of mathematical problems. In addition, they give a favorable opinion regarding the use of realistic contexts in the creation of new problems. However, several of the proposed problems present fictitious or mathematical contexts. The highest percentage of the participants points out the need for training for the elaboration of contextualized mathematical problems.

El objetivo de este estudio es analizar el contexto y la contextualización de problemas presentes en el caso del currículo de Costa Rica desarrollado en la reforma de 2012. La metodología es mixta, con un análisis cualitativo de contenido y un posterior recuento cuantitativo. El sistema de categorías se elabora a partir de la revisión bibliográfica, considerando tipos de contexto y tipos de contextualización. El 59,5% del total de 141 problemas tienen contexto científico/matemático, muy pocos de los cuales se ajustan auna contextualización activa. Asimismo, los contextos rurales e indígenas están ausentes. De ahí que concluyamos sobre la existencia de desajustes entre los fundamentos teóricos del caso de currículo de matemáticas y los ejemplos que se plantean. Acabamos proponiendo la discusión de nuestras categorías como indicadores para construir problemas matemáticos con contextualización activa y significativa.

En este documento se reporta el análisis de problemas elaborados por docentes de secundaria, antes y después de la implementación de un curso de elaboración de problemas contextualizados mediante el uso de signos culturales. Se llevó a cabo un análisis de contenido, definiendo categorías a priori para los contextos y la contextualización de los problemas elaborados; en particular, se analizó la contextualización culturalmente significativa de los problemas a través de los componentes de autenticidad (evento, pregunta, propósito, datos). En general, el propósito de los problemas elaborados en el curso de formación se acercó más a la realidad del contexto sociocultural en comparación con los propuestos antes del curso. Sin embargo, persisten debilidades con respecto a presentar datos e información coherentes con la realidad del evento planteado en el problema, lo cual es un aspecto en el que se debe hacer más hincapié en futuros espacios de formación, para conseguir elaborar problemas más auténticos y culturalmente significativos.

This article presents an assessment of the scientific, mathematical, technological, pedagogical and citizenship skills used by secondary Science and Mathematics teachers to propose interdisciplinary solutions to real situations. To reach this objective, four case studies were designed on topics such as environmental pollution, the impact of Covid-19 on tourism, rainwater harvesting for human consumption, and the nature of some mixtures. To assess the competencies, present in the cases, indicators were established that define each area with its respective levels of performance. A mixed-methods approach was employed, integrating qualitative analysis with quantitative techniques for data synthesis. Higher levels of performance were associated with basic abilities such as interpretation and argumentation in contrast to advanced aspects such as assessment, critical and systems thinking, and creativity, where performance was considerably lower. Cross-curricular competencies such as communication and collaboration were present throughout the activity. Pedagogical and technological skills showed lower results than expected. The teaching proposals designed by the teachers for their classroom spaces presented some weaknesses, such as activities with little alignment to the desired outcomes, evaluation strategies that do not assess the level of specificity, and the use of technological tools focused only on searching for information on the Internet.