The COVID-19 pandemic has made mathematical epidemiology a topic of critical importance, providing mathematics educators with an unparalleled opportunity. This opportunity is accompanied by a challenge: how do mathematics educators, some of whom have little personal experience with mathematical modeling, teach mathematical epidemiology to their…

We present a simple activity based on the liquid-drop model which allows secondary school students to explore the uses of mathematical models and gain an intuitive understanding of the concept of binding energy, and in particular the significance of positive binding energy. Using spreadsheets provided as supplementary material, students can…

Many engineering subjects rely on the interpretation of symbolic, numeric and graphic representations. Engineering students have challenges pertaining to their mathematical understanding of their actions with a computer algebra system (CAS). We investigated how a mathematical modelling task could mediate varied levels of mathematical…

Using Mathematical Modelling has become a useful tool in teaching-learning mathematics at all levels. This is so because mathematical objects are seen from their very applications, giving them meaning from the beginning. In this paper we present some details on the development of a teacher's training course called Modelling in the Teaching of…

Engaging students in studies about conservation and sustainability can support their understanding of making environmental conscious decisions to conserve Earth. This article aims to contribute these efforts and direct students' attention to how they can use mathematics to make environmental decisions. Contributors to iSTEM: Integrating…

The use of handheld CAS technology in undergraduate mathematics courses in Australia is paradoxically shrinking under sustained disapproval or disdain from the professional mathematics community. Mathematics education specialists argue with their mathematics colleagues over a range of issues in course development and this use of CAS or even…

The introduction of linear functions is the turning point where many students decide if mathematics is useful or not. This means the role of parameters and variables in linear functions could be considered to be "threshold concepts". There is recognition that linear functions can be taught in context through the exploration of linear…

In two experiments, participants judged the average numerosity between two sequentially presented dot patterns to perform an approximate arithmetic task. In Experiment 1, the response was given on a 0-20 numerical scale (categorical scaling), and in Experiment 2, the response was given by the production of a dot pattern of the desired numerosity…

Early in 2010, a group of year 11 students (age 15-16) studying GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) Astronomy at The Radclyffe School, Oldham, in the UK, teamed up with a similar age group from Tianyi High School, Wuxi City, in China, to undertake a joint astronomy investigation. This article outlines the outcome of the first stage…

In this article, the authors present a lesson whose goal is to utilise a scientific environment to immerse a trigonometry student in the process of mathematical modelling. The scientific environment utilised during this activity is a physics simulation called "Wave on a String" created by the PhET Interactive Simulations Project at…

The use of difference and differential equations in the modelling is a topic usually studied by advanced students in mathematics. However difference and differential equations appear in the school curriculum in many direct or hidden ways. Difference equations first enter in the curriculum when studying arithmetic sequences. Moreover Newtonian…

This paper draws on a one year study of three secondary school classrooms to examine the nature of student-student-technology interaction when working in partnership with computer algebra systems (CAS) on mathematical modelling tasks and the classroom affordances and constraints that influence such interaction. The analysis of these data indicates…

Lecturers in mathematical modelling courses are always on the lookout for new examples to illustrate the modelling process. A physical phenomenon, documented as early as the nineteenth century, was recalled: when a wineglass "sings", waves are visible on the surface of the wine. These surface waves are used as an exercise in mathematical…

This article reports the attitudes of students towards mathematics after they had participated in an applied mathematical modelling project that was part of an Applied Mathematics course. The students were majoring in Earth Science at the National Taiwan Normal University. Twenty-six students took part in the project. It was the first time a…

This paper reports on the implementation of a self-directed learning process in a circuit theory course, incorporating dynamic training elements which were designed on the basis of a cybernetic model of cognitive process management. These elements are centrally linked in a dynamic learning frame, created on the monitor screen, which displays the…