How realistic should phenomena and problems be? By Jennifer Childress Self | October 5, 2021 The whole idea of this blog was inspired by questions we get from the field. One question we've been hearing a lot lately is "do phenomena have to be real?" The importance of phenomena and problems is their role in engaging students and driving instruction, helping to create coherent learning experiences and build student agency. So in practical terms, "good" phenomena and problems are ones that help lead to all of these things (together with supportive design of instruction, since phenomena and problems alone won't do all these [...]