A classroom activity to work with real data and diverse strategies in order to build diverse models with the help of the computer

Abstract

Taking into account that the majority of the models with more tradition in the mathematical curriculum to represent temporal evolutions of the number of individuals are continuous models in the class of empirical models, it has an added value to deal with these models, but where the parameters involved are claimed to have a biological meaning. These types of models are not completely mechanistic o heuristics, and therefore they are called pseudo-mechanistic models. It is a challenge to link mathematical tools and concepts with biological ideas, and also a chance to use the help that computers provide in this context. The aim of this study was to design a set of rich tasks to be performed with the help of the computer and implement them in the classroom in order to investigate a real data set to deal with empirical models and pseudo-mechanistic models. One of the main purposes in the designing of this set of tasks was to configure a framework showing different strategies to deal with the data and also, how each of these approaches could generate a variety of responses to the problem in hand. The sequence and structure of these tasks, according to the students’ perceptions collected, enhanced the understanding about the construction and use of these primary growth models