The revised Australian curriculum presents a new emphasis in primary schools on the process of Mathematical Modelling. A modelling focus brings close attention to confidence and capability with a potentially new problem-solving process, associated language, and pedagogical processes. This paper presents a Year 4 classroom modelling experience that…

To successfully solve the complex challenges facing us in the 21st century, people with expertise in the science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) fields and other fields are needed, especially for their interdisciplinary way of thinking and working. These competencies should be learned in school, which first implies teacher…

This research contributes to the need to identify and expand learning environments that encourage undergraduate students to develop collaborative work skills and apply their classroom knowledge to solve real-world problems. Using qualitative methods, we examine the effects of the interaction between two teams of students when solving a…

Two examples of mathematical modelling are explored. Firstly, optimising the distance travelled when jumping from a swing is discussed. The second concerns optimising the distance travelled by monkeys when swinging from branch to branch.

This article presents a mathematical modeling activity for students related to the process of memorization in which students collect their own data to drive their model development, parameterization, and validation. Engaging in the data collection gives them insight to critique and evaluate various models. This task is a low-floor high ceiling…

The use of authentic real-world problems that reflect the applied nature of mathematics is not prevalent in formal secondary school settings. In this study, we explore the interface between workplace mathematics, particularly tech-related real-world (TRW) problems, and school mathematics, through the explication of mathematical modeling. The…

Several studies related to mathematics understanding found that many undergraduate students lack some basic knowledge of algebra. They memorized only a few topics, formulas, and algorithms without understanding them conceptually, even though they could manipulate those limited number of points correctly or incorrectly. In comparison, most…

Mathematical modelling has garnered national and international interest due to its importance. Mathematical modelling can develop students' mathematical understandings, teamwork and communication practices. The ability for teachers to select appropriate mathematical modelling tasks is important to ensure the benefits listed for students are…

An university in Chile developed a Digital Learning Routes (DLR) for three elective courses in the area of mathematics: (1) limits, derivatives, and integrals; (2) probabilities and descriptive and inferential statistics; and (3) three-dimensional geometry. A DLR is a sequence of e-learning activities that seeks to enable learners to build…

How would students feel when learning through the use of mathematical modeling? On investigation, this article reveals that students felt better prepared for assessments, learned valuable life skills, and saw the relevance of mathematics to their lives outside of the classroom.

The Modelling Dance task is a mathematical modelling task that explores the relationship between mathematics and dance. The authors share the task sequence, adaptations made to support virtual implementation, and evidence of student learning related to learning goals.

This article argues the importance of teaching students about the philosophical and mathematical underpinnings of Australia's superannuation system as an example of a real-world problem context. It also provides a rationale for teaching financial modelling and decision-making in ways that respect the diverse financial realities represented in…

In this study, we investigated mathematics teacher's noticing of students' thinking in the context of mathematical modeling activities (MEAs) related to statistics. One middle-school mathematics teacher participated in the study, which adopted a case study design. Data were collected through interviews with the teacher based on video recordings of…

We describe an activity that introduces students to population modelling, enables them to use estimates obtained from a sample to infer back to the population, and understands how the findings are translatable via penguins and their poo!

Our study aims to determine how Habermas' construct of rationality can serve to identify and interpret the difficulties experienced by university students in the mathematical problem-solving process. To this end, a problem which required modelling and solving a differential equation was used. The problem-solving processes of university students…