Turning Ideas into Modeling Problems

We show how the nucleus of an idea can be developed into modeling problems for secondary school using principles for problem design enunciated in Galbraith (2007). Once the germ has been developed for a task, the idea can be extended as necessary into related problems closer to the personal experience of the adolescents in secondary school. The issues and contexts secondary students choose to investigate, and the questions that they pose when given free reign or minimal constraints, are illustrated from an Australian modeling challenge. Finally, using these contexts as starting points, it is suggested such situations can be developed to engage students in important teaching issues involving necessary constituents of the modeling process.