Modeling Actions Foregrounded in Whole-Class Modeling Discourse: A Case Study of a Model-Eliciting Activity and a Three-Act Task

In this article, we investigated how a class engaged in whole-class discussions of modeling solutions, across two different types of modeling tasks: a Model Eliciting Activity (MEA) and a Three-Act Task. We analyzed whole-class discourse as small groups presented and responded to each other's solutions to a MEA and a Three-Act Task. We have also analyzed how the teacher team used these tasks to promote the emergence of distinctive emphases among modeling actions in whole-class discourse during solution-presentation sessions. We found that whole-class discourse in presentation sessions provided opportunities for students to participate in valued mathematical modeling actions, but that these actions varied by the two modeling task types. This work contributes to both theory and praxis, illuminating the affordances of different modeling tasks and the strategic work teachers do to bring those affordances to life.