Linguistic Appropriation and Meaning in Mathematical Modeling Activities

Abstract In this paper we turn our attention to the different language games associated to the development of Mathematical Modelling activities and to the meanings constituted by students within these language games in relation to the first order ordinary differential equations. The research is based on Mathematical Modelling in Mathematics Education and has as its philosophical basis the studies of Ludwig Wittgenstein and some of his interpreters. Considering these theoretical-philosophical elements, mathematical modelling activities were developed in a Mathematics Degree in a course of Ordinary Differential Equations. Data were collected through written records, audio and video recordings, questionnaires, and interviews. The data analysis methodology considers the students' discursive practices and allowed us to construct trees of idea association. The results indicate that the constitution of meaning within modelling activities is associated to the students' linguistic appropriation of the rules and techniques that are configured in specific language games identified in the Mathematical Modelling activities.