Exploring students’ modeling competences: A case of a GeoGebra-based modeling task

This study was aimed to explore undergraduate students’ modeling competences. A total of 36 undergraduate students were involved in the study. These students worked in groups to solve a modeling task which was presented in GeoGebra application. The students’ modeling competence was investigated before and after the use of metacognitive instruction. The study shows that the students could make a mathematical model or mathematical question of the modeling task. However, prior to the use of metacognitive prompt the students mainly focused on exploring the features of GeoGebra application rather than on identifying mathematical strategies. After the use of metacognitive prompt, the students shifted from feature-based strategies to mathematical strategies. The results of this study indicate that metacognitive prompt is helpful to direct students to think about mathematical concepts or strategies which are relevant to a modeling task.