Abstract
Extra curricular modelling events for school students are increasing in popularity. The experience from the perspective of participating Australian and Singaporean Year 10 and 11 students in one such event, the A. B. Paterson College Mathematical Modelling Challenge, is investigated. The aim is to gauge whether their experience meets the intended purposes of mentors that the whole event be considered an inherently valuable learning experience about modelling and application of mathematics to real situations. Findings from a questionnaire and other data included motivation for choice of situation to model, decision making about approach, and reporting of findings were mainly goal oriented rather than performance oriented, despite the Challenge ostensibly being a competition.
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Appendix – Relevant Questionnaire Questions
Appendix – Relevant Questionnaire Questions
Q 1: Why did you decide on this particular situation to model?
Q 3: How did you come to choose the approach you adopted?
Q 7: How did you decide on what was most important to include in your report?
Q10: What were the most interesting things you learned by being involved in the Modelling Challenge?
Q11: What were the most difficult parts of the whole process?
Q12: How often would you have done similar types of activities in your mathematics classroom at school?
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Stillman, G.A., Brown, J.P., Galbraith, P. (2013). Challenges in Modelling Challenges: Intents and Purposes. In: Stillman, G., Kaiser, G., Blum, W., Brown, J. (eds) Teaching Mathematical Modelling: Connecting to Research and Practice. International Perspectives on the Teaching and Learning of Mathematical Modelling. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6540-5_19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6540-5_19
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