What Is Known about Elementary Grades Mathematical Modelling
Table 1
Principles for guiding MEA development.
Principle
Description
Model construction
Ensures that the activity requires the construction of an explicit description, explanation, or procedure for a mathematically significant situation
Generalizability
Also known as the Model Shareability and Reusability Principle. Requires students to produce solutions that are shareable with others and modifiable for other closely related situations
Model documentation
Ensures that the students are required to create some form of documentation that will reveal explicitly how they are thinking about the problem situation
Reality
Requires the activity to be posed in a realistic context and to be designed so that the students can interpret the activity meaningfully from their different levels of mathematical ability and general knowledge
Self-assessment
Ensures that the activity contains criteria the students can identify and use to test and revise their current ways of thinking
Effective prototype
Ensures that the model produced will be as simple as possible, yet still mathematically significant for learning purposes (i.e., a learning prototype or a “big idea” in mathematics)
