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% de los 141 problemas tienen contexto científico/matemático, muy pocos de los cuales con 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.

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.

The objective of this study is to analyze the context and contextualization of problems from the case of the Costa Rican curriculum developed in the 2012 reform. The mixed methodology consists of a qualitative content analysis and a subsequent quantitative account. A system of categories is built from a literature review leading to the study of types of context and types of contextualization. The 59.5% out of the total of 141 problems has a scientific/mathematics context, with contextualization of the active type in only a few of them. Moreover, contexts of the rural and indigenous types are absent. We conclude therefore that some disconnections exist between the theoretical curricular basis and the problems exemplified. Finally, we propose the further discussion of our categories as indicators for the design of mathematical problems with contextualization of the active and significant types.