Implement and Reflect on Challenging Mathematical Modeling Tasks to Engage and Empower ALL Students
By Farshid Safi and Aline Abassian
February 23, 2017
Students commonly ask “When will I ever use this in my life?” In response, teachers often spend a fair amount of time trying to find a clever hook to a lesson or seeking ways of making the lesson more attractive in order to invite and peak student interest. Teachers and educators see the merits
and applications of mathematics to professional aspirations, life beyond the classroom as well as pathways to informed citizenship and contribution to society at large. Unfortunately, many of our students do not experience this perspective in relation to the critical significance of learning mathematics
and the ability to make sense and analyze situations and events in their daily lives. Too many students believe mathematics to be merely a collection of abstract rules and arbitrary procedures that must be memorized to get through school. Mathematical modeling constitutes an opportunity to help in shifting the
mindset of students from performers of procedures to informed decision makers. In order for us to engage our students in authentic, worthwhile tasks that empower ALL students, mathematical modeling represents a powerful exercise to better understand and solve real, relevant and often times messy problems.
At the
2017 annual meeting of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, we are excited to share our knowledge and experiences during our presentation and discussion on implementing authentic mathematical modeling tasks. Together, we will reflect on ways to explore real-life modeling
situations by appealing to mathematical ideas illustrated by data points, graphs, functions and through examining rates of change. A major emphasis of the presentation will be on reasoning and experiences that promote sense making through the purposeful use of graphing technologies.
Since mathematical modeling compels students to be engaged in challenging and purposefully selected high cognitive demand tasks that enrich their understanding and connect to a wide range of mathematical concepts, our goals for this interactive workshop are for participants to:
- Share in best practices and strategies to model mathematics and ways to draw upon and extend student experiences
- Reflect on the appropriateness of different models in mathematizing the world around them
- Recognize the critical notion of sense making made possible by mathematical modeling
Join us for our presentation at the NCTM annual meeting and together we can engage and empower ALL students to build towards a bright future through mathematical modeling.
Be sure not to miss this session at the 2017 NCTM Annual Meeting in San Antonio:
Implement and Reflect on Challenging Mathematical Modeling Tasks to Engage and Empower ALL Student
April 6, 2017 | 9:30–10:30 a.m. in Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, 214C
Engage students in challenging mathematics and explore effective practices to draw upon student experiences in exploring mathematical modeling tasks. Take part in an interactive workshop where the topics will range from algebra to precalculus concepts, and see how all students can be empowered by becoming sense-makers in rich classroom discussions.