Several concerted movements toward mathematical modeling have been seen in the last decade, reflecting the growing global relationship between the role of mathematics in the context of modern science, technology and real life. The literature has mainly covered the theoretical basis of research questions in mathematical modeling and the use of…

A widely used instrument was implemented to ascertain the mathematical modelling competency displayed by a cohort of South African learners in grade 10 and grade 12 of the school mathematics programme in South Africa. The cohort comprised 471 grade 10 and 200 grade 12 learners from schools serving learners from low socio-economic status…

One hundred four students aged 8 to 16 worked on one Fermi problem involving estimating the number of people that can fit in their school playground. We present a qualitative analysis of the different mathematical models developed by the students. The analysis of the students' written productions is based on the identification of the model of…

Previous studies have repeatedly shown that children often incorrectly use an additive model for multiplicative word problems, and a multiplicative model for additive word problems. The present study aimed to investigate which model upper primary school children tend to choose in word problems that are open to "both" ways of reasoning.…

We investigated the effect of emphasising the realistic modelling complexity in text or in the accompanying picture on the solution of P-items, in relation to pupils' grade. 290 pupils from the 5th and 6th grade of various elementary schools in Flanders (Belgium) made a paper-and-pencil task with 7 word problems that are problematic from a…