Characteristics of participation - A mathematician and a mathematics educator collaborating on a developmental research project

International audienceIn this paper, a developmental research project involving offering mathematical modelling (MM) activities to university biology students is presented, and a particular aspect is studied, namely the project as a collaboration between mathematicians and mathematics educators. The aim of the paper is to investigate what characterizes their participation in the project, and how the characteristics of the project and its development might influence this participation. Interview data as well as observation data from the MM sessions are analysed, and findings show that the mathematics educator served as a broker influencing the practice of the mathematician. It is hoped that the findings of the study can be of use when planning future collaboration between mathematicians and mathematics educators