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Abstract

Based on the unpredictable effect of context familiarity when students solve real-world problems, this work aims to analyse how certain contexts can be used by pre-service mathematics teachers in the representation and real-world verification of a first-order mathematical model in the classroom in the subject of Ordinary Differential Equations. Specifically, this paper reports a classroom experience in which pre-service mathematics teachers compared the solution of a first-order ordinary differential equations (ODE) with a real-world experimental model. Using documentary records (i.e., students´ hand-written solutions and field notes) and a questionnaire on students´ perceptions on this classroom experience, qualitative results indicated that the pre-service mathematics teachers’ familiarity with an authentic context was a fundamental factor they chose a real-world model to represent the solution of a first-order ODE. Our analysis of the results highlights the importance of integrating familiar real-world contexts for pre-service mathematics teachers to model a first-order ODE, which is one of the fundamental principles of STEM disciplines.

Keywords

First-Order Ordinary Differential Equations Pre-Service Teachers’ Problem Context Familiarity Real-World Context

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How to Cite
Johnson, P., Almuna, F., & Silva, M. (2022). The role of problem context familiarity in modelling first-order ordinary differential equations. Journal on Mathematics Education, 13(2), 323–336. https://doi.org/10.22342/jme.v13i2.pp323-336
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