Preservice teachers' beliefs on mathematical modelling and their mathematical modelling activities through STEM projects

Abstract

This study was preliminary research that investigated preservice teachers' beliefs and their mathematical modeling activities through STEM Projects. We examined 34 preservice teachers by letting them define mathematical modeling through their beliefs, then investigated the relationship between those beliefs and mathematical modeling competencies. We found that the majority of preservice teachers define mathematical modeling as a means to describe physical phenomena as well as tools to translate problems into mathematical equations/expressions, and their beliefs were related to their mathematical modeling competencies. This study has significance to contribute on promoting mathematical modelling as a core of mathematics learning and the knowledge of preservice teachers' education.