Teaching Modelling at University Level: the institutional relativity of study and research paths

Abstract

This paper focuses on extending the problem of the ecology of mathematical modelling activities at university level. Our aim is to deal with the variety of constraints appearing when modelling proposals, which are implemented in university classrooms impeding their normal lives and to study the appropriate conditions which can overcome them. Within the framework of the anthropological theory of the didactic, the proposal of the study and research paths (SRP) shows new possibilities to surmount some of these constraints. We present here the design and implementation of a SRP based on the difficulty to get a homogeneous distribution of bicycles in a bike-sharing system. This paper presents successive transformations that the design of a SRP’ had to undergo to deal with two different institutional environments and the answers and reactions that university teachers and students expressed in front of its implementations.

Keywords:
Mathematical Modelling; Anthropological Theory of the Didactics; Research and Study Paths; Ecology; Institutional Relativity