Mathematical Modeling in the Elementary School

Abstract

This presentation draws on the first year of a 3-year longitudinal study of elementary children’s development of mathematical modeling and their teachers’ associated professional development. We address the design of "pre-modeling" experiences that teachers implemented in 4 third-grade classrooms (8-year-olds), and show how these facilitated children’s working of subsequent model-eliciting activities (Doerr & English, 2003; Lesh, Hoover, Hole, Kelly & Post, 2000). We report on the mathematical and social gains that children made during these model-eliciting activities, including their abilities to interpret and work with mathematical information, to identify trends and patterns in data, to represent their mathematical ideas in different formats, and to communicate and justify their mathematical ideas. Brief consideration is also given to issues that arose in the professional development experiences of the teachers.