Modelling Body Motion: an Approach to Functions Using Measuring Instruments

Abstract

The paper presents an approach to modelling in secondary schools where technological instruments are used for measuring and modelling motion experiences. In all cases one or more sensors measure various quantities and are connected to a calculator. In some examples we study pupils (9-th grade) who run in the class and see the Cartesian representation of their movement produced by a sensor in real time. In others, pupils (11–13-th grade) go on switchbacks or other similar merry-go-rounds and use instruments to measure some quantities (speed, acceleration, pressure), which are recorded on graphs and tables. In both cases, pupils discuss what has happened and interpret the collected data. Within a general Vygotskian frame, the authors use different complementary tools to analyse the situations: the embodied cognition by Lakoff and Núñez, the instrumental approach by Rabardel, the definition of concept by Vergnaud. In particular the role of the perceptual-motor activity in the conceptualisation of mathematics through modelling is stressed.