Breaking Down Modeling with Mathematics

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematical Practice emphasize skills students
should develop over the course of their mathematics education. As students progress, these skills
become deeply analytical and valuable when it comes to learning not just mathematics, but any
subject. Not only are these skills valuable on their own, but are interconnected and play off one
another to develop true mathematicians over the years. Modeling with mathematics, Math
Practice number four is one of these valuable practices outlined in the CCSSI. Modeling with
mathematics is truly at the “heart of mathematics” (Hall, 2017) and presents our students with
the valuable skills of “translating problem situations to mathematical language suitable for
computer processing and analyzing (and) reasoning about and presenting results” (Hall, 2017),
which are essential in order to function in today’s society. No longer do companies rely on an
individual to complete a calculation, but a computer instead. Modeling with mathematics is one
of the most valuable of the standards as it not only encompasses so many of the other standards,
but requires students to mathematize the world and develop real solutions to real problems, using
well thought out and analyzed mathematical models.
Modeling is often thought of as simply a concrete, physical object you can manipulate,
one you can use to help better understand a certain situation or phenomena. While this is indeed
one meaning of modeling, MP4, modeling with mathematics, brings a whole new dimension to
the word. Modeling with mathematics “links classroom mathematics and statistics to everyday
life, work, and decision-making” (CCSSI 2010). Students are required to first define a real-world
problem, asking questions and defining parameters to the situation. Then, students must
translate the situation into mathematics (i.e. creating a formal mathematical model like a
scatterplot to show trends, a table to show maximum, or an expression to model a pattern). Next,
students must analyze this mathematical model and how it connects to the real-world situation.
They must find a solution path only to then analyze it to validate it or go back to the translation/
analyzation stage. Finally, students must interpret their models, draw appropriate conclusions,
and communicate their results.

Progression of Modeling with Math

While modeling with mathematics requires students to apply their mathematics
knowledge in order to solve real world problems, it can start in the early grades and progresses
all through high school. It begins with students expressing a word problem with an equation,
how numbers and operations can describe the world, a line plot, or bar graph. (Model with Math
n.d.). It transforms, in middle school, to representing a situation with a function, scatter plot, or
histogram (Common Core Standards Writing Team 2013), and evolves into more complex
modeling in which there is no clear answer and students are asked to draw upon their previous
mathematics knowledge to solve, or interpret a real world problem. In high school, students
begin using the models they created in middle and elementary grades as a stepping stone to
answer larger questions. This level of modeling involves taking risks, checking answers, and
revising strategies in order to develop the best solution. While not all tasks given in the
classroom will be full blown modeling tasks, students should be provided opportunities to work
with the different components of modeling with math throughout every course (Zhou, Kan &
Teo, 2016).

Culture Matters
In order to enact real modeling tasks there must be a classroom culture in place that
supports taking risks, making mistakes, and persevering. Students must understand that
mathematics is more than following procedures, and is actually a subject which involves
creativity, inquisitiveness, and trial and error. When we ask students to model with mathematics
we are asking them to mathematize the world on their own or with their peers. This involves a
special set of skills we must help our students develop (i.e. communication, self-awareness, and
self management in order to recognize their own strengths and weakness and reflect upon their
shared progress toward a goal) (Illustrative Mathematics, n.d.). More specifically, in order for
teachers to expect their students to successfully engage in MP4, they must create a classroom
where students understand the value of “deep thinking and questioning”, all students participate
and are seen as valuable, and where getting stuck on a problem is an “honourable” event, instead
of a sign of weakness (Pennant, 2013). In a classroom which values speed over depth, and
simply being correct, students will not take their time to carefully consider the precision or
validity of their models. Instead, their work will be ruled by the social hierarchy of the classroom
and what makes them look “the smartest”. This means all teachers must take a careful look at
aspects of their teaching (i.e. questioning strategies, responses to student answers, authority in
the classroom) (Pennant, 2013) before becoming frustrated at the results of a modeling problem
done with students.

Why It Matters
 Involving modeling in our classrooms has the potential to end the dreaded question “Why
do we need to know this?”. As “modeling does not involve superficial connections to real-world
problems”(Koestler, Felton, Bieda, & Otten, 2013),
students become engaged and naturally curious about the
mathematics surrounding a specific political, social, or
natural phenomena that is being modeled. Koestler et al.
encourage modeling as “students should regularly have
opportunities to work with ill-defined problems” (2013).
Through persevering through these ill-defined problems
using mathematical modeling, students are given the
power to be creative, and solve real-world problems on
their own/ within groups. Instead of being given 10
problems involving finding the area of different figures,
students are given a problem that involves maximizing
the area of a playpen for a dog, developing a table to
describe and estimate how long it takes someone to run
up the stairs, or creating a model to determine which
pizza with which number of toppings is the cheapest
(Domino Effect, n.d.). Through the power of
mathematical modeling, students are given agency over
their own learning and the opportunity to make
connections that unveil the beauty of mathematics. No
longer will mathematics seem like a burden of practice
problems and procedures, but as a tool.
Modeling allows students to use mathematics, instead of just practice it. Engaging in this
practice allows students to become prepared to design, analyze, and interpret mathematical
models, a skill that is needed in not only mathematics fields, but scientific fields and social
sciences. Moreover, the value the level of problem solving modeling with mathematics involves,
is valuable to students no matter their career path. Furthermore, it not only is this the sort of
analysis we want students to leave high school feeling confident in engaging with, but it also
provides students the opportunity to engage in all of the other standards for math practice.

Intertwined
Modeling with mathematics is not isolated from the other standards to any stretch of the
imagination. Problems that require math modeling require extensive use of the other practices in
order for students to succeed in math modeling. For instance, MP1, Make sense of problems and
persevere in solving them, is vital for students engaging in modeling problems. Mathematical
modeling requires students to engage in this practice in order to begin the modeling process at
all. MP2, reason abstractly and quantitatively is also right at the center of modeling. Critical
thinking and abstraction is involved when students decontextualize a problem into the
mathematics. Students must engage in MP3, constructing viable arguments and critiquing the
arguments of others in order to propose a solution based upon their data/model.. They have to
use appropriate tools, MP5, throughout the modeling processes in order to determine how to best
represent their data, and to ensure it is correctly represented. They must constantly recheck to
make sure their model makes sense in terms of the real-world situation at hand, MP6. As
Koestler et al. stated: “As their peers raise concerns, students may have to revise their
mathematical models and their means of communication” (2013), requiring students to both
“attend to precision” (CCSSI 2010) and learn how to communicate mathematically with their
peers (MP3). Furthermore, students must look for and make use of structure, MP7, when it
comes to analyzing a situation and looking for any correlations or patterns. Modeling involves
taking a real-world situation, say the connection between school funding and average income of
an area, and recognizing average income could be used as the independent variable, and school
funding the dependent, to best represent the data in a model. Finally, MP8, look for and express
regularity in repeated reasoning, is involved throughout the modeling process as students must
perform multiple calculations and take numerous steps to reach their final model and
conclusions. Students must constantly go back and check to make sure their calculations are
being done correctly and will lead them to viable conclusions at the end.

In addition to MP4 being closely intertwined with the other math practices, it also allows
for mathematics learning that is better connected to students’ lives. Koestler et al. highlight the
value of students truly modeling with math stating: “modeling can be used as an opportunity to
draw on genuine problems from students’ everyday lives, thus making mathematics more
relevant to students from all backgrounds” (2013). Modeling with mathematics presents an
invaluable opportunity to connect mathematics to students lives and draw connections between
mathematics and equity. The possibilities are endless when considering topics of inequity for
students to consider; “national and global poverty, income and wealth inequality, global hunger,
pollution, the fairness of different voting systems, and government spending” (Koestler et al.,
2013). By intertwining these social issues with mathematical modeling, students are truly shown
the power and importance of mathematics, something that is not always transparent through a
textbook.

Modeling in Geometry: Transformations Example

Geometry lends itself to multiple modeling opportunities. In Geometry, we must look for
ways in which to incorporate modeling over repeated, di-contextualized problems. For instance,
instead of giving students a problem requiring them to simply describe or perform a
transformation, give students a problem requiring them to use transformations in order to create
an animation scene via Geogebra. Geogebra presents an opportunity for students to “learn the
process of translating problem situations to the mathematical language that the computer needs
to be able to work effectively” (Hall, 2017). In addition, there is research showing that the use of
dynamic geometry environments, like those utilizing Geogebra, positively impact student
motivation, engagement, and achievement in mathematics learning (Zouh et al., 2016). (PIXAR
IN A BOX has a great set of videos and lessons which walks students through the
transformations as well as composition, all while students are creating their own scene).
The open ended nature of asking students to create their own scene using composition of
transformations opens the problem up to creativity and truly creates a need for the mathematics.
In order to increase the success of this project and for students to truly engage in modeling and
the inquisitiveness involved, this project would be most useful at the beginning of a
transformations unit in high school. By assigning it at the beginning and using Geogebra for
investigation and solutions, students will be required to make sense of different representations
on their own (i.e. verbal description, coordinate notation, and graphical representation) Students
will be required to make sense of these on their own, instead of being directly instructed and
asked to practice.
To begin, students should be able to first play around with a Geogebra template such as
the one shown below, where they have to get Anna to Elsa and answer questions regarding her
movement and connections to the coordinates, presents an opportunity for students to understand
the different representations of transformations on their own, without notes. This will provide the
foundation and help scaffold students up to the creation of their own animation scene (i.e.
Geogebra) where they can provide the set of “commands” or transformations that move the
characters in the way they want.
Not only does this approach to transformations allow students to explore and make
connections, it also presents a task that is low floor, high ceiling. Through the use of dynamic
geometry software, students are able to physically manipulate different characters, or coordinates
and watch the effect it has on their movement. A student who is having trouble visualizing
transformations could benefit from the manipulation opportunities the software provides, where a
student who is already demonstrating mastery over transformations could make a more in-depth
scene requiring multiple rotations, reflections, translations, and even dilations. Moreover, an
extension could be to ask students to write a singular coordinate rule, mapping a character to its
desired endpoint and position. Another possible real-world connection would be using geogebra
to model/re-enact a situation in order to solve a crime/ mystery.
Through the use of a real world application that is truly authentic to the mathematics,
students are able to directly see mathematics at work as well as its usefulness. This approach to
transformations has the power to create valuable student dialogue about the connections between
different

representations and just what happens when “you make the x’s negative”. It’s exploratory nature
gives students the power, opening the classroom up to be more student led.

Modeling with mathematics is a crucial standard teachers must focus on developing

throughout each students’ school career. The modeling standard bridges the gap between
mathematics and the real-world for students and can have powerful effects in terms of
engagement. Koestler et al. said it best: “While connecting mathematics to meaningful real-
world or everyday contexts is valuable for all students, it can be of particular value for students
of color or students from lower socio-economic backgrounds whose perspectives have been
traditionally left out of the mathematics curriculum” (2013). Not only is integrating more
modeling with mathematics into every math classroom vital for the preparation of all students in
becoming mathematically proficient citizens, but it presents an opportunity to create more
equitable mathematics education. Modeling presents opportunities for students to dive into
pressing issues, or make sense of something using mathematics, instead of a traditional, “I have 2
apples and give 3 to Molly. How many apples does Molly have” questions. As modeling can
start out as simple as modeling a situation with an equation and go as far as developing models
and solutions to the war on drugs and mass incarceration rates, while introducing maximums,
minimums, and trends, the possibilities are endless when it comes to ways to integrate modeling
into every mathematics classroom.

References
Koestler, Courtney, Mathew D. Felton, Kristen N. Bieda, and Samuel Otten. "Connecting the
NCTM Process Standards & the CCSSM Practices." National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics, 2013. doi:978-0-87353-708-7.
Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI). 2010. Common Core State Standards for
Mathematics. Washington, DC: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and
the Council of Chief State School Officers. http://www.corestandards.org/wp-
content/uploads/Math_Standards.pdf

Common Core Standards Writing Team. (2013, July 4). Progressions for the Common Core
State Standards in Mathematics (draft). High School, Modeling. Tucson, AZ

"Domino Effect : A Lesson by Mathalicious." Mathalicious. Accessed December 10, 2017.

http://www.mathalicious.com/lessons/domino-effect.

Hall, Jonas, and Thomas Lingefjärd. Mathematical modeling: applications with GeoGebra.
Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley, 2017.

"High School: Modeling." High School: Modeling | Common Core State Standards Initiative.
Accessed October 15, 2017. http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/HSM/.

"Model with Mathematics." Illustrative Mathematics. Accessed November 26, 2017.

https://www.illustrativemathematics.org/practice-standards/4.

Pennant, J. (2013, September). Developing a Classroom Culture That Supports a Problem-

solving Approach to Mathematics. Retrieved December 14, 2017, from
https://nrich.maths.org/10341

"Standard 4: Model with Mathematics." Inside Mathematics. Accessed November 26, 2017.
http://www.insidemathematics.org/common-core-resources/mathematical-practice-
standards/standard-4-model-with-mathematics.

Zhou, Mingming, Kan Chan Kan, and Timothy Teo. "Modelling Mathematics Teachers'
Intention to use the Dynamic Geometry Environments in Macau: An SEM Approach." Journal
of Educational Technology & Society 19.3 (2016): 181-93. ProQuest. Web. 15 Oct. 2017.