Presents two case studies of learners attempting to understand the concept of normal distribution, specifically why physical phenomena such as height fall into normal distributions. Draws conclusions about a Connected Mathematics learning environment that enables confrontation with epistemological anxiety and the features of modeling languages…

The focus is on the metacognitive awareness of ten high-achieving high school pupils in mathematics in Denmark and England and their understanding of their cognitive learning processes and strategies. Mainly unstructured focus group interviews investigate how they explain that they learn a mathematical concept that is new to them. I develop the…