Abstract
Across a wide spectrum of disciplines and forms of investigation, scientists invent and revise models. Although central to scientific practice, models cannot simply be imported into classrooms. Instead, pedagogy must be designed so that students can come to understand natural systems by inventing and revising models of these systems. Considering theories of analogical development, we suggest rooting first experiences of modeling in resemblance — physical microcosms — and in inscription — children’s drawings and related writings. From these starting points, we seek to stretch inscription into mathematization, so that children describe natural systems by recourse to mathematical systems and structures. Engagement in these practices has epistemic consequences, fundamentally altering how children view the natural world.
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Lehrer, R., Schauble, L. (2007). A Developmental Approach for Supporting the Epistemology of Modeling. In: Blum, W., Galbraith, P.L., Henn, HW., Niss, M. (eds) Modelling and Applications in Mathematics Education. New ICMI Study Series, vol 10. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-29822-1_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-29822-1_14
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