Synopses & Reviews
As we enter the 21st century, there is an urgent need for new approaches to mathematics education emphasizing its relevance in young learners' futures. Modeling Students' Mathematical Modeling Competencies explores the vital trend toward using real-world problems as a basis for teaching mathematics skills, competencies, and applications. Blending theoretical constructs and practical considerations, the book presents papers from the latest conference of the ICTMA, beginning with the basics (Why are models necessary? Where can we find them?) and moving through intricate concepts of how students perceive math, how instructors teach--and how both can become better learners. Dispatches as varied as classroom case studies, analyses of math in engineering work, and an in-depth review of modeling-based curricula in the Netherlands illustrate modeling activities on the job, methods of overcoming math resistance, and the movement toward replicable models and lifelong engagement. A sampling of topics covered: How students recognize the usefulness of mathematics Creating the modeling-oriented classroom Assessing and evaluating students' modeling capabilities The relationship between modeling and problem-solving Instructor methods for developing their own models of modeling New technologies for modeling in the classroom Modeling Students' Mathematical Modeling Competencies offers welcome clarity and focus to the international research and professional community in mathematics, science, and engineering education, as well as those involved in the sciences of teaching and learning these subjects.
Synopsis
Bringing together researchers from a variety of research traditions including, mathematics, mathematics education, science education and engineering education, Modeling Studentsa (TM) Mathematical Competencies explores:
What is the nature of typical problem-solving situations where elementary-but-powerful mathematical constructs and conceptual systems are needed for success in a technology-based age of information?
What does it mean to understand the most important of these ideas and abilities? How do these competencies develop?
How can we document and assess the most important achievements that are needed: (i) for informed citizenship, or (ii) for successful participation in the increasingly wide range of professions that are becoming heavy users of mathematics, science, and technology?
These questions are important considering the significant changes not only in the types of situations where mathematical thinking is needed, but also in the concepts and competencies that need to be developed.
Synopsis
Blending theoretical constructs and practical considerations, this book explores the vital trend toward using real-world problems as a basis for teaching mathematics skills, competencies, and applications. It presents papers from the 2009 ICTMA conference.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction: ICTMA and the Teaching of Modeling and Applications, Gabriele Kaiser Part I: The Nature of Models & Modeling Modeling: What Is It? Why Do It? Richard Lesh and Thomas Fennewald Section 1: What Are Models? Chapter 2. Modeling Theory for Math and Science Education, David Hestenes Chapter 3. Modeling a Crucial Aspect of Students' Mathematical Modeling, Mogens Niss Chapter 4. Modeling Perspectives in Math Education Research, Christine Larson, Guershon Harel, Michael Oehrtman, Michelle Zandieh, Chris Rasmussen San, Robert Speiser and Chuck Walter