The Design And Enactment Of Modeling Tasks: A Study On The Development Of Modeling Abilities In A Secondary Mathematics Course

This study uses components of action and self-study research to examine the design and enactment of modeling tasks with the goal of developing student modeling abilities. The author, a secondary mathematics teacher, first closely examined the curriculum design and instructional decisions she made as she prepared for a unit on mathematical modeling in her precalculus course. Detailed descriptions of the timeline of events as this unit was enacted is then presented, providing insight into student and teacher interactions that occurred during an intense five weeks of modeling instruction. An analysis of these events identified ways in which students relearned how to learn, the teacher-researcher relearned to teach, and how both students and teacher relearned mathematics within authentic tasks. Finally, the overall development of modeling abilities as a result of this relearning and implications for this research are discussed