Research Article
Yuki Sawada
Contemporary Mathematics and Science Education, Volume 3, Issue 2, Article No: ep22017
ABSTRACT
Someone with a mathematical background can understand that if a virus such as COVID-19 enters a country, it will increase exponentially and cause a pandemic. Are students watching daily news reports with this level of sensibility? It is not difficult for students already familiar with differential and integral calculus to use the susceptible-infected-recovered or removed model to predict the number of new infections and determine the effect of self-restraint. Current education practices emphasize the memorization of concepts. When confronted with unknown difficulties such as COVID-19, it is important to develop teaching materials that, rather than frightening and emotionally discouraging students, enable them to utilize their previous knowledge, confront the difficulties, and explore the significance of mathematics education. This study provides example mathematical modelling material. Students learned mathematical modelling using the example of the number of new infections in Japan’s first wave of COVID-19. A survey was conducted before and after instruction which revealed that students in Japan are not being taught how to build mathematical models, and teaching using mathematical models can be used successfully to help students learn construction of mathematical disease models and also about exponential change.
Keywords: mathematical modelling, SIR model, differential equation, COVID-19
Research Article
Ebenezer Bonyah, Lauren Jeneva Clark
Contemporary Mathematics and Science Education, Volume 3, Issue 1, Article No: ep22011
ABSTRACT
Mathematical modelling, in general, improves problem-solving skills and can lead to innovation. Using an explanatory sequential mixed method approach, this study considered West African pre-service teachers’ concepts of mathematical modelling as they tried to solve modelling-type application problems. The study was conducted in selected tertiary institutions in Ghana to determine pre-service teacher preparedness for teaching mathematical modelling at secondary schools. Modelling-type tasks were given to 30 undergraduate pre-service mathematics teachers who had completed several content courses. After attempting these tasks, questionnaires elicited further information about their views of and familiarity with modelling. A careful analysis of the written responses revealed that the majority understood some basic ideas of modelling. However, four of the respondents demonstrated minimal understanding of mathematical modelling concepts, and those four were interviewed about their perceptions. Analysis of the four selected pre-service secondary math teachers’ written responses revealed both conceptual and procedural errors, and the interviews revealed that they had little familiarity with the mathematical modelling. Authors suggest that modelling should be part of the West African senior high school mathematics curriculum to build confidence and capabilities among students, who are next generation’s teachers, and this will generatively propagate economic development.
Keywords: mathematical modelling, content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, pre-service teacher