Teachers work hard to engage students and to encourage student thinking and productive struggle. Despite heroic efforts, students are often disengaged and typically see math as an exercise in memorized procedures and frustration. We often hear the question, “When are we ever going to use this in the real world?”
What’s in this workshop?
In this workshop on mathematical modeling, participants will
- Learn what math modeling is and some common approaches to quantifying (and answering) real-world problems
- Learn basic technical computing and programming skills (including Excel/Google Sheets and MATLAB) to support math modeling activities
- Build a toolbox to adapt students’ interests into effective classroom modeling activities, and assess students’ learning
By the end of this training, participants will be able to
- Describe and implement approaches to mathematical modeling
- Design classroom activities that incorporate mathematical modeling
- Recognize and adapt modeling activities to math curriculum standards
- Recognize situations where technical computing and programming approaches can enhance students’ modeling activities
- Identify situations that can be adapted into effective modeling activities.