MODELLING AS A BIG IDEA IN MATHEMATICS WITH SIGNIFICANCE FOR CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION - HOW DO PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS SEE IT?

There is not only a consensus that modelling is a big idea for mathematics as a scientific discipline, but also that this big idea should have an impact on the mathematics classroom. Consequently, teachers should be aware of this big idea and know how modelling relates to a variety of curricular contents. However, empirical research into views of pre-service teachers related to big ideas in general and to modelling as a big idea in particular is scarce. Hence, this study concentrates on views of Austrian and German pre-service teachers about the significance of modelling as a big idea. For this purpose, we focus on the role of modelling as a big idea, and report about results concerning the pre-service teachers' perceptions.