A Middle Grade Teacher’s Interventions in Mathematical Modeling Teaching

Abstract

The teachers' pedagogical understanding of modeling applications is one of the most critical issues in teaching mathematical modeling. The interventions used by the teacher during the implementation of the tasks are the mirror of their pedagogical knowledge. For this reason, teacher interventions, which have a decisive effect on defining the teacher's role in teaching mathematical modeling, are a crucial issue to investigate. This study examines the types of interventions used by a middle school mathematics teacher who completed professional development in mathematical modeling. The data was collected in an eighth-grade classroom consisting of twenty students. The mathematical modeling task, called Intersection Arrangement, was implemented for 2 hours, and both video and audio recordings were used to collect data. All recordings were transcribed and analyzed using the content analysis method, supported by observer notes and student worksheets. The results revealed that the teacher mostly had effective environmental and classroom interaction interventions. The teacher avoided having content-oriented or strategic interventions or did not intervene during the modeling process. These intervention types might be because of the teacher's unwillingness to affect the modeling process. On the other hand, the fact that the teacher was more active in the presentation and evaluation stage supports his hesitations and difficulties about where and how to intervene in the modeling process. The relevant literature and the results of this research show that teachers must have unique pedagogical knowledge in teaching mathematical modeling.