A Case Study of Undergraduate Biology Students' Engagement in Blended Sensemaking During Mathematical Modeling Tasks

Abstract

Studies of students engaging in problem solving tasks have shown that individual students who are able to draw on both their mathematical understanding of the equation and scientific knowledge of the phenomenon (blended sensemaking) are more successful in problem solving. Both science and mathematics sensemaking have been shown to occur in mathematical modeling tasks. Prior studies have only examined whether blended sensemaking occurs by individual students, not how blended sensemaking occurs when students are working collaboratively in mathematical modeling tasks.