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Complex Modelling in the Primary and Middle School Years: An Interdisciplinary Approach

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Teaching Mathematical Modelling: Connecting to Research and Practice

Abstract

The world’s increasing complexity, competitiveness, interconnectivity, and dependence on technology generate new challenges for nations and individuals that cannot be met by continuing education as usual. With the proliferation of complex systems have come new technologies for communication, collaboration, and conceptualisation. These technologies have led to significant changes in the forms of mathematical and scientific thinking required beyond the classroom. Modelling, in its various forms, can develop and broaden students’ mathematical and scientific thinking beyond the standard curriculum. This chapter first considers future competencies in the mathematical sciences within an increasingly complex world. Consideration is then given to interdisciplinary problem solving and models and modelling, as one means of addressing these competencies. Illustrative case studies involving complex, interdisciplinary modelling activities in Years 1 and 7 are presented.

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Acknowledgements 

The research projects addressed in this paper have been supported by Discovery and Linkage grants from the Australian Research Council (ARC) [DP0984178 and LP0989152, respectively]. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ARC. I wish to acknowledge the enthusiastic participation of all the classroom teachers and their students, as well as the excellent support provided by my senior research assistant, Jo Macri.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Lyn D. English

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  1. Lyn D. English
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Correspondence to Lyn D. English .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Education VIC | Faculty of Education, Australian Catholic University, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia

    Gloria Ann Stillman

  2. Faculty of Education, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Gabriele Kaiser

  3. Department of Mathematics, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany

    Werner Blum

  4. Education VIC | Faculty of Education, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Jill P. Brown

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English, L.D. (2013). Complex Modelling in the Primary and Middle School Years: An Interdisciplinary Approach. In: Stillman, G., Kaiser, G., Blum, W., Brown, J. (eds) Teaching Mathematical Modelling: Connecting to Research and Practice. International Perspectives on the Teaching and Learning of Mathematical Modelling. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6540-5_42

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