Diversiteit in representatie van de wiskundige modelleercyclus bij studenten en docenten Diversity in representation of the mathematical modelling cycle in students and teachers

Tijdschrift voor Didactiek van de Beta-wetenschappen, uitgegeven door het Freudenthal Instituut, Universiteit Utrecht in de periode 1983-2014

Perrenet, J. Zwaneveld, B. Tijdschrift voor Didactiek van de Beta-wetenschappen 2011 – 28(1), 49-74 Download pdf

Over the years, students of the Bachelor’s program Industrial and Applied Mathematics of the Eindhoven University of Technology seemed to show a great diversity in representating the modelling cycle at the end of a series of mathematical modelling projects. We investigated this alleged diversity, and into this investigation we included the representations by the tutors of the students. The schemes of 77 students and 20 tutors, in which they give their vision of the modelling cycle in some or more detail, were analysed with respect to variables such as validity, verification, iteration and complexity. The intercoder reliability was good. Indeed in both groups, students and tutors, there was much diversity on many variables. Only on iteration (passing more than once through the modelling cycle) the groups systematically differed. In a discussion with the tutors on the results of the 72 Diversiteit in representatie van de wiskundige modelleercyclus investigation the value of the variables under investigation was recognized. The ascertained diversity was not considered a problem by most tutors.