| EpiDEMES |
This paper addresses the problem of integrating mathematical modelling into first-year mathematics courses at university level. Our research focuses on identifying mechanisms that facilitate the dissemination of mathematical modelling in university mathematics education. Within the framework of the anthropological theory of the didactic (ATD), our work over recent decades has focused on the design, implementation, and analysis of the study and research paths (SRP) as a teaching device persuading a double purpose: making students aware of the rationale of mathematical contents through the experience of modelling activities; and connecting these mathematical contents through a whole modelling process. We draw upon empirical findings from the implementation of an SRP on population dynamics withfirst-year students at university level, and its ‘migration’ to other university settings, to identify valuable mechanisms for integrating mathematical modelling into university institutions. More concretely, we analyse the mechanisms facilitating two central dialectics for the SRP and for modelling: the dialectics of questions and answers and that of media and milieu.