Modeling with Graphical Representations
Abraham Arcavi
abraham.arcavi@weizmann.ac.il
Department of Science Teaching
Weizmann Institute of Science
Israel
Abstract
Traditionally, the modeling of situations in mathematical language
consists of creating symbolic expressions, work with and through them
using mathematical principles and procedures, and to arrive at results
which are then reiterpreted in terms of the situation. Technology has
provided means to model situations also using graphical representations
(before, in parallel, and even instead of symbolic representations). In
this lecture we present examples of this kind of modeling, we will
ilustarte their use with some data from our trials of them in
classrooms, and we discuss the educational value of modeling with
graphical representations. Finally we speculate on the emergence of a
different way of of thinking: graphical reasoning.
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