A Study of the Effectiveness of Mathematical Modelling of Home Delivery Packaging on Year 12 Students’ Function Education

Abstract

Teaching of functions in secondary education in Japan, as in many other countries, treats only single variable functions, but in our daily life and in nature a lot of phenomena can be expressed by functions of several variables. A home delivery packaging model was provided as a typical teaching material for learning mathematical development models. Fifteen Year 12 students participated in this educational experiment. The theme given to the students was about maximising the volume of a box with a fixed outer length in order to pack the box with as large an amount as possible. This modelling will effectively help students to imagine the maximum value for three dimensional models with two variable integer functions, and it will also help them solve partial differentials. It is hoped that this study will provide additional support for Japanese mathematical activities and improve the teaching of functions in Japan.